Journal of Andrology
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Published-Ahead-of-Print December 8, 2005, DOI:10.2164/jandrol.05159

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High Seminal Platelet-Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase Activity in Men with Spinal Cord Injuries

Jiuming Zhu , Nancy L. Brackett , Teodoro C. Aballa , Charles M. Lynne , Michael W. Witt , Hilton I. Kort , and William E. Roudebush *

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: roudebush{at}rba-online.com.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes male infertility, primarily with low sperm motility as a chronic problem. It is suggested from previous studies that some seminal components may be responsible for the pathological asthenozoospermia. It is hypothesized that platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAFah), which originates from the epididymis and other accessory sexual glands, may be a causative factor. This enzyme catalyzes PAF to acetate and biologically inactive lyso-PAF. PAF is well recognized to be an important phospholipid mediator that stimulates sperm motility and enhances sperm capacitation and fertilization. The present study was designed to analyze differences in PAFah activity in semen of men with SCI compared with age-matched non-injured men as controls. PAFah assay reagent kits were used to measure enzymatic activity by monitoring the production rates of 4-nitrophenol in a given interval of time on a spectrophotometer. The results showed that SCI subjects had a higher concentration of PAFah compared with the control group (p < 0.001). A significant negative correlation was found between enzymatic activity and sperm motility (r2 = 0.8449, p < 0.001). Further studies will determine if seminal vesicle dysfunction in men with SCI leads to abnormal PAFah activity, resulting in low sperm motility.






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