title: Identification of New Epididymal Luminal Fluid Proteins Involved in Sperm Maturation in Infertile Rats Treated by Dutasteride Using iTRAQ.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spermatozoa become mature and acquire fertilizing capacity during their passage through the epididymal lumen. In this study, we identified new epididymal luminal fluid proteins involved in sperm maturation in infertile rats by dutasteride, a dual 5α-reductase inhibitor, in order to provide potential epididymal targets for new contraceptives and infertility treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male rats were treated with dutasteride for 28 consecutive days. We observed the protein expression profiles in the epididymal luminal fluids in infertile and normal rats using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technique. The confidence of proteome data was validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1045 proteins were tested, and 23 of them presented different expression profiling in the infertile and normal rats. The seven proteins were down-regulated, and 16 proteins were up-regulated. Among the seven proteins which were significantly down-regulated by dutasteride in the epididymal luminal fluids, there were three β-defensins (Defb2, Defb18 and Defb39), which maybe the key proteins involved in epididymal sperm maturation and male fertility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report for the first time that dutasteride influences the protein expression profiling in the epididymal luminal fluids of rats, and this result provides some new epididymal targets for male contraception and infertility therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. xieshw@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shu-Wu
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. ligt89@sippr.org.
authors.forename: Guo-Ting
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Shanghai Eighth People's Hospital, Shanghai 200233, China. qulijuanchina@126.com.
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai 200437, China. cindy8813966@126.com.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Ming Qi Natural Healthcare Center, New York, NY 10016, USA. blackeyes614@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. zjy_sans@sippr.org.
authors.forename: Jie-Yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. zrh8804@126.com.
authors.forename: Rui-Hua
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. gxj2009@sippr.org.
authors.forename: Xiang-Jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Pharmacology, Key Lab of Reproduction Regulation of NPFPC, SIPPR, IRD, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. zhuyan@sippr.org.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D058891:5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000378:metabolism*; D000068538:Dutasteride / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004822:Epididymis / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D011506:Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D013079:Sperm Maturation / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D058891:5-alpha Reductase Inhibitors; D011506:Proteins; D000068538:Dutasteride
keywords: contraceptives; drug targets; dutasteride; iTRAQ; infertility therapy; luminal fluids; proteomics; rat epididymis