The in vitro effects of gibberellin on human sperm motility.
Authors of this article are:
Xu CS, Zhou Y, Jiang Z, Wang LE, Huang JJ, Zhang TY, Zhao Y, Shen W, Zou SH, Zang LL.
A summary of the article is shown below:
Gibberellin, a plant growth regulator, is widely used to increase the shelf life and quality of fruits and vegetables. In this study, human semen samples were exposed to different concentrations of gibberellin, which reduced spermatozoa motility in vitro. Gibberellin exposure also increased levels of reactive oxygen species and the protein levels of apoptosis markers in human sperm. Gibberellin inhibited the activity of Na+/K+-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) and Ca2+-ATPase, which maintain the stability of ions inside and outside the membranes of spermatozoa. Moreover, gibberellin exposure suppressed adenosine triphosphate production and reduced the protein levels of adenosine triphosphate synthases, which may have induced the protein expression of adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and its phosphorylated form. These results suggest that gibberellin reduces human sperm motility in vitro by increasing reactive oxygen species levels and reducing ATPase activity, which may upregulate AMPK and consequently reduce the fertilization potential of spermatozoa.
Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:
This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: AMPK; ATPase activity; gibberellin; oxidative stress; sperm motility.
