Abstract
Several strands of evidence indicate the presence of marked similarities between human brain and testis. Understanding these similarities and their implications has become a topic of interest among the scientific community. Indeed, an association of intelligence with some semen quality parameters has been reported and a relation between dysfunctions of the human brain and testis has also been evident. Numerous common molecular features are evident when these tissues are compared, which is reflected in the huge number of common proteins. At the functional level, human neurons and sperm share a number of characteristics, including the importance of the exocytotic process and the presence of similar receptors and signalling pathways. The common proteins are mainly involved in exocytosis, tissue development and neuron/brain-associated biological processes. With this analysis, we conclude that human brain and testis share several biochemical characteristics which, in addition to their involvement in the speciation process, could, at least in part, be responsible for the expression of a huge number of common proteins. Nonetheless, this is an underexplored topic, and the connection between these tissues needs to be clarified, which could help to understand the dysfunctions affecting brain and testis, as well as to develop improved therapeutic strategies.
Highlights
The human body is an orchestrated set of different organs that work together, contributing to the maintenance of overall health and homeostasis
We review the similarities between human brain and testis, and between human neuron and sperm at the cellular and molecular levels
According to the apparent cellular and molecular similarities between human brain and testis, it has become clear that these tissues have a similar gene expression pattern
Summary
The human body is an orchestrated set of different organs that work together, contributing to the maintenance of overall health and homeostasis. The human testis is the male gonad, and is of the utmost importance for reproduction and species evolution It has two main functions: production of gametes (sperm) and synthesis/secretion of hormones ( primarily, testosterone) [3,4]. Despite these clearly dissimilar functions and the apparent structural and morphological differences between human brain and testis, in the last four decades it has become increasingly evident that these tissues share several features. A possible association between male sexual dysfunction and neurological disorders was proposed by several authors [8,9] The proteomic profile of the two human tissues (brain and testis) and the two types of cells (neuron and sperm) were compared and critically discussed
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