Journal
BIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION
Volume 81, Issue 5, Pages 921-932Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.109.076273
Keywords
decapitated sperm; easily decapitated sperm; epididymis; fertilizing ability; male reproductive tract; PRSS21; serine protease; sperm; sperm maturation; testisin
Categories
Funding
- Lance Armstrong Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) [CA098369, HL084387, HL07698]
- NIH Intramural program
- Department of Defense [DAMD-17-02-1-0693]
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Consortium for Industrial Collaboration in Contraceptive Research (CICCR)
- program of Contraceptive Research and Development (CONRAD)
- Eastern Virginia Medical School
- Nationa Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Brain Nationa Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
- NICHD [N01-HD-4-3368, N01-HD-4-3383]
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An estimated 25%-40% of infertile men have idiopathic infertility associated with deficient sperm numbers and quality. Here, we identify the membrane-anchored serine protease PRSS21, also known as testisin, to he a novel proteolytic factor that directs epididymal sperm cell maturation and sperm-fertilizing ability. PRSS21-deficient spermatozoa show decreased motility, angulated and curled tails, fragile necks, and dramatically increased susceptibility to decapitation. These defects reflect aberrant maturation during passage through the epididymis, because histological and electron microscopic structural analyses showed an increased tendency for curled and detached tails as spermatozoa transit from the corpus to the cauda epididymis. Cauda epididymal spermatozoa deficient in PRSS21 fail to mount a swelling response when exposed to hypotonic conditions, suggesting an impaired ability to respond to osmotic challenges facing maturing spermatozoa in the female reproductive tract. These data suggest that aberrant regulation of PRSS21 may underlie certain secondary male infertility syndromes, such as easily decapitated spermatozoa in humans.
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