Abstract
Nowadays a decrease tendency in human sperm quality has been reported mainly in developed countries. Reproductive technologies have been very valuable in achieving successful pregnancies with low quality sperm samples. However, considering that spermatozoa molecular contribution is increasingly important in recent studies, it is crucial to study whether fertilization with low sperm quality could leave a molecular mark on progeny. This study explores the consequences that fertilization with low sperm quality may have on progeny, using zebrafish as a model. Good and bad breeders were established attending to sperm quality analyses and were individually tracked. Significant differences in fertilization and malformation rates were obtained in progenies between high and low quality sperm samples. Moreover an altered miR profile was found in the progenies of bad zebrafish breeders (upregulation of miR-141 and miR -122 in 24 hpf embryos) and as a consequence, some of their targets involved in male sex development such as dmrt1, suffered downregulation. Our results indicate that fertilizing with high sperm quality samples becomes relevant from a new perspective: to avoid molecular alterations in the progeny that could remain masked and therefore produce unexpected consequences in it.
Highlights
It has traditionally been thought that reproductive and fertility outcomes mainly depend on the female factor[1,2]
Adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) AB wild type were kept in 10 liter tanks under standard conditions in a circulating system (AquaticHabitats, Apopka, FL, USA) that continuously filters and aerates the system water to maintain the water quality required for a healthy aquatic environment
Good and bad zebrafish breeder experimental groups were established according to total motility parameter (%): good breeders presented high motility values (>70%) and bad ones recorded low motility values (
Summary
It has traditionally been thought that reproductive and fertility outcomes mainly depend on the female factor[1,2]. In terms of quantity, the small contribution of spermatozoa when compared to the oocyte created skepticism regarding to the importance of these molecules of paternal origin beyond the particular moment of fertilization Evidence of their importance has been provided in several studies that demonstrating that sperm cells can be a vehicle for certain phenotype transmission to the progeny[7,14,15,16] pointing to molecules such as miRNAs as one of the possible mechanisms of transmission. Sperm quality related miRs have been analyzed in good and bad zebrafish breeders All of these miRs (miR-122-5p, miR 141-3p and miR-200a-5p) were previously defined as molecular markers in human sperm[11], and they are differentially present in normozoospermic when compared to asthenozoospermic and oligo-asthenozoospermic men[25]. This study provides new evidences on the effects of fertilizing with low sperm quality samples on progeny
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