ArticlePLoS biology2018
Zinc: A small molecule with a big impact on sperm function.
Article in PLoS biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bovine In Vitro Fertilization Embryo Development Predicted by Capacitation-Induced Zinc Ion Flux and Acrosome Remodeling.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Pancancer Analysis of NSUN2 with a Focus on Prognostic and Immunological Roles in Endometrial Cancer.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2025Article
- Energy coupling and stoichiometry of ZneLife · 2023Article
- Review
- Zinc transporter ZIP12 maintains zinc homeostasis and protects spermatogonia from oxidative stress during spermatogenesis.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2022Article
- Surgically induced weight loss effects on sexual quality of life of obese men: a prospective evaluation.Surgical endoscopy · 2020Article
- Circulating Zinc and Copper Levels are Associated with Sperm Quality in Obese Men after Metabolic Surgery: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2020Article
- The Role of Zinc in Male Fertility.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Sperm Cohort-Specific Zinc Signature Acquisition and Capacitation-Induced Zinc Flux Regulate Sperm-Oviduct and Sperm-Zona Pellucida Interactions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- Comparison between sperm parameters and chromatin in recurrent pregnancy loss couples after antioxidant therapy.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2020Article
- Metabolite Support of Long-Term Storage of Sperm in the Spermatheca of Honeybee (Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
- Solute carrier transporters: the metabolic gatekeepers of immune cells.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2020Review
- Improvements in morphology and membrane stability obtained fromToxicology reports · 2019Article
- Zinc-Induced SUMOylation of Dynamin-Related Protein 1 Protects the Heart against Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Zinc is an essential mineral, but our understanding of its uses in the body is limited. Capitalizing on approaches available in the model system Caenorhabditis elegans, Zhao and colleagues show that zinc transduces a signal that induces sperm to become motile. This is an enigmatic process because sperm in all sexually-reproducing animals are transcriptionally inactive. Zinc levels inside sperm are regulated by an evolutionarily conserved zinc transporter called Zrt- and Irt-like Protein Transporter 7.1 (ZIPT-7.1). This zinc transporter localizes to intracellular organelles, suggesting that it primarily controls zinc levels by releasing zinc into the cytoplasm from internal stores rather than importing it from the external environment. The zinc released within cells acts as a messenger in a signaling pathway to promote mobility acquisition. These studies reveal an important role for zinc as an intracellular second messenger that generates physiological changes vital for sperm motility and fertility.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.