Journal of Andrology
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Published-Ahead-of-Print July 12, 2006, DOI:10.2164/jandrol.106.000745

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Acute Effect of Vasectomy on the Function of the Rat Epididymal Epithelium and Vas Deferens

Ann E Lavers , David J Swanlund , Brian A Hunter , Michael L Tran , Jon L Pryor , and Kenneth P Roberts *

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rober040{at}umn.edu.

Persistent infertility after apparently successful vasectomy reversal is common. One possible etiology is epididymal epithelial dysfunction resulting in improper sperm maturation after vasectomy reversal. The epididymal epithelium secretes a number of proteins that are thought to be required for the maturation of sperm. Ligation of the vas deferens during vasectomy may affect the synthesis of some of these proteins. In the present study, the function of the epididymal epithelium was assessed at early times after vasectomy (1, 4 and 7 days) by measuring the level of mRNA of four secreted proteins; Crisp-1, clusterin, osteopontin and transferrin. In addition, the site of synthesis of these proteins was determined by immunocytochemistry. The results demonstrated that the expression of Crisp-1 and clusterin, representative epididymal secretory proteins, was largely unaffected by vasectomy. However, osteopontin mRNA increased in the vas deferens in response to vasectomy. Immunocytochemical localization of osteopontin suggested that both infiltrating immune cells and deferential luminal epithelium were responsible for this upregulation. Transferrin expression was viewed as a marker for immune cells at the site of injury. However, both the caput epididymis and deferential epithelia were found to express transferrin, in addition to immune cells. In conclusion, there appears to be only minor changes in expression of genes encoding epididymal secretory proteins acutely after vasectomy, but not surprisingly, there was evidence of an inflammatory response after vasectomy.


Key words: Epididymis • Crisp-1 • clusterin • osteopontin • transferrin




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V. Thimon, E. Calvo, O. Koukoui, C. Legare, and R. Sullivan
Effects of Vasectomy on Gene Expression Profiling along the Human Epididymis
Biol Reprod, August 1, 2008; 79(2): 262 - 273.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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