title: New insights into the expression profile and function of micro-ribonucleic acid in human spermatozoa.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile in spermatozoa from human fertile individuals and their implications in human fertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression levels of 736 miRNAs were evaluated using TaqMan arrays. Ontologic analyses were performed to determine the presence of enriched biological processes among their targets.
  
  
  METHODS
  University research and clinical institutes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten individuals with normal seminogram, standard karyotype, and proven fertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression levels of 736 miRNAs, presence of enriched metabolic routes among their targets, homogeneity of the population, influence of demographic features in the results, presence of miRNA stable pairs, and best miRNA normalizing candidates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 221 miRNAs were consistently present in all individuals, 452 were only detected in some individuals, and 63 did not appear in any sample. The ontologic analysis of the 2,356 potential targets of the ubiquitous miRNAs showed an enrichment of processes related to cell differentiation, development, morphogenesis, and embryogenesis. None of the miRNAs were significantly correlated with age, semen volume, sperm concentration, motility, or morphology. Correlations between samples were statistically significant, indicating a high homogeneity of the population. A set of 48 miRNA pairs displayed a stable expression, a particular behavior that is discussed in relationship to their usefulness as fertility biomarkers. Hsa-miR-532-5p, hsa-miR-374b-5p, and hsa-miR-564 seemed to be the best normalizing miRNA candidates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Human sperm contain a stable population of miRNAs potentially related to embryogenesis and spermatogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salas-Huetos
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.affiliation: Joint Institution for Research in Biomedicine-Barcelona Supercomputing Center Program on Computational Biology, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mercader
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Andrología y Banco de Semen, Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Garrido
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain. Electronic address: ester.anton@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anton
mesh_terms: D005298:Fertility / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D063990:Gene Ontology; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Infertility; embryogenesis; microRNA; sperm biomarkers; spermatogenesis