Investigation of sperm TSSK6 protein in normospermic infertil men

Male infertility is one of the health problems that continues to increase day by day. Approximately 30-50% of male infertility is defined as idiopathic normospermic infertility. When the studies were reviewed, it was determined that the absence of some proteins in the sperm may cause infertility. The testis-specific serine/thyreonine-protein kinase 6 (TSSK6) protein is one of them. TSSK6 is a protein kinase expressed in the testis and is important for male reproductive system development and function. However, there was no study investigating the expression change of TSSK6 protein in the sperm of normospremic infertile individuals. Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to investigate the expression change of sperm TSSK6 protein in normospermic infertile men. In the study, semen samples from 60 idiopathic normospermic infertile men and semen samples from 40 fertile men as controls were used. For this purpose, people who previously had children naturally were included in the control group. Of the normospermic infertile individuals, 30 are non-smokers and 30 are smokers. Of the fertile individuals in the control group, 20 were non-smokers and 20 were smokers. In the semen samples taken, the spermiogram was washed by flotation and stained with immunofluorescent staining method, and ImageJ program was used to analyze the images taken with the immunofluorescence microscope. Expression of TSSK6 protein was observed in the postcrosomal region and middle part of sperm cells. TSSK6 expression in the sperm of smokers in the control group was lower than in non-smokers and it was statistically significant (p<0.001). Similarly, TSSK6 expression was lower in the sperm of patients who smoked compared to non-smokers. This decrease was also statistically significant (p<0.001). TSSK6 expression of the patients was lower than the control (p<0.001). In other words, it was determined that TSSK6 protein was decreased or suppressed in patients with idiopathic infertility. In addition, with this study, it was determined that smoking further reduced or suppressed TSSK6 expression in healthy individuals and individuals with idiopathic infertility. In conclusion, mutations associated with the TSSK6 gene and changes in the TSSK6 protein in human sperm were thought to be the cause of male infertility. Keywords: Idiopathic, Infertility, Normospermic, Cigarette, TSSK6