Effects of Vitamin-E treatment on CatSper genes expression and sperm quality in the testis of the aging mouse

Background: catsper genes are a novel family of four sperm-specific calciumchannels, which indicate testis-specific expression patterns. despite the crucial roleof catsper genes in the male reproduction, very little is known about the factors thatregulate their expression.objective: the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin e treatment on the expression of catsper 1 and catsper 2 genes as well as sperm quality in the aged male mice.materials and methods: twenty four 11-12 months old aged male mice and twentyfour 2-3-months old young male mice were randomly divided into four groups.control groups received no injection. the experimental groups of male mice werereceived intraperitoneal injection of 106 mg/kg vitamin e daily for 35 days. lefttestis and cauda epididymides from each mouse were collected on the days 21, 28and 35 following vitamin e treatment and were used for real-time pcr andimmunohistochemistry. also, sperm analysis was performed according to the whoguidelines given for human sperm examination. data were analyzed using spsssoftware.results: administration of vitamin e improved sperm parameters in the aged aswell as young adult male mice. in addition, the expression of catsper genesincreased following vitamin e treatment. also, intensity of signal for catsper1 andcatsper2 increased in the head and middle piece of sperm in experimental group ascompared to those of control ones.conclusion: the vitamin e treatment significantly improved the sperm quality,especially in terms of sperm motility, count and morphology rate. furthermore,catsper genes expression could be up-regulated by the vitamin e treatment