CatSper channels are essential for hyperactivity of sperm flagellum, progesterone-mediated chemotaxis and oocyte fertilization. Catsper genes are exclusively expressed in the testis during spermatogenesis, but the function and regulation of the corresponding promoter regions are unknown. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of the promoter regions in the human and murine Catsper1 ge...

Ion channels control the sperm ability to fertilize the egg by regulating sperm maturation in the female reproductive tract and by triggering key sperm physiological responses required for successful fertilization such as hyperactivated motility, chemotaxis, and the acrosome reaction. CatSper, a pH-regulated, calcium-selective ion channel, and KSper (Slo3) are core regulators of sperm tail calc...

background: the predominant phytoestrogen in soy and derived products is the isoflavone genistein. genistein has antioxidant properties. morphine is a main psychoactive chemical in opium that can increase the generation of free radicals and therefore it could adversely affects the spermatogenesis. objective: the main goal was to investigate whether the genistein could protect morphine adverse e...

Calcium ions play a primary role in the regulation of sperm cell behavior. We report finding a voltage-gated ion channel (CatSper2) that is expressed in male germ cells but not in other cells. The putative channel contains 6 transmembrane segments, making it more similar to the voltage-gated potassium channels, but the ion selectivity pore domain sequence resembles that of a Ca(v) channel. The ...