Epididymal epithelial degeneration and lipid metabolism impairment account for male infertility in occludin knockout mice.

ABSTRACT: Occludin (OCLN) is a tight junction protein and Ocln deletion mutation causes male infertility in mice. However, the role of OCLN in male reproductive system remains unknown. In this study, we used an interdisciplinary approach to elucidate the underlying mechanism of male infertility in related to OCLN function, including Ocln knockout mice as well as a combined omics analysis and immunofluorescent labelling. Our results showed that the epididymis of Ocln-null mice displayed a phenomenon resembling epididymal sperm granuloma, which occurred especially in the junctional region between caput and corpus epididymidis. Sperm motility and fertilisation capacity were also impaired in these Ocln-null mice, accompanied by enlarged tubules in the proximal regions and degenerati

SUBMITTER: Liu BY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9742356 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature