ArticleFrontiers in endocrinology2021
Decreased piRNAs in Infertile Semen Are Related to Downregulation of Sperm MitoPLD Expression.
Article in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seminal Extracellular Vesicles and Their Involvement in Male (In)Fertility: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Exosomes in Benign Urological Disorders: From Molecular Biology to Clinical Perspectives.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Biogenesis and migration of the sperm cytoplasmic droplet require ARRDC5 and TEX38.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Role of Seminal Exosomes in Reproduction.Journal of cellular physiology · 2025Review
- Bio fluid exosomes: promises, challenges, and future directions in translational medicine.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Cracking the code: how piRNA pathway shapes spermatogenesis and combats male infertility.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Review
- RNA profiles differ between small and large extracellular vesicle subsets isolated from porcine seminal plasma.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Single Sperm RNA signatures reveal MicroRNA biomarkers for male subfertility.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2024Article
- Testicular piRNA Analysis Identified Dysregulated piRNAs in Non-obstructive Azoospermia.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2024Article
- Small RNAs, spermatogenesis, and male infertility: a decade of retrospect.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2023Review
- Urinary phthalate metabolites and small non-coding RNAs from seminal plasma extracellular vesicles among men undergoing infertility treatment.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2023Article
- Dietary Sugar Shifts Mitochondrial Metabolism and Small RNA Biogenesis in Sperm.Antioxidants & redox signaling · 2023Article
- PiRNA Obtained through Liquid Biopsy as a Possible Cancer Biomarker.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- Using Small Non-Coding RNAs in Extracellular Vesicles of Semen as Biomarkers of Male Reproductive System Health: Opportunities and Challenges.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Decline of Sperm Quality over the Last Two Decades in the South of Europe: A Retrospective Study in Infertile Patients.Biology · 2022Article
- The Sperm Small RNA Transcriptome: Implications beyond Reproductive Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Assessing spermatozoal small ribonucleic acids and their relationship to blastocyst development in idiopathic infertile males.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Currently, the molecular mechanisms underlining male infertility are still poorly understood. Our previous study has demonstrated that PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are downregulated in seminal plasma of infertile patients and can serve as molecular biomarkers for male infertility. However, the source and mechanism for the dysregulation of piRNAs remain obscure. In this study, we found that exosomes are present in high concentrations in human seminal plasma and confirmed that piRNAs are predominantly present in the exosomal fraction of seminal plasma. Moreover, we showed that piRNAs were significantly decreased in exosomes of asthenozoospermia patients compared with normozoospermic men. By systematically screening piRNA profiles in sperms of normozoospermic men and asthenozoospermia patients, we found that piRNAs were parallelly reduced during infertility. At last, we investigated the expression of some proteins that are essential for piRNAs biogenesis in sperms and therefore identified a tight correlation between the levels of spermatozoa piRNA and MitoPLD protein, suggesting that the loss-of-function of MitoPLD could cause a severe defect of piRNA accumulation in sperms. In summary, this study identified a parallel reduction of piRNAs and MitoPLD protein in sperms of asthenozoospermia patients, which may provide pathophysiological clues about sperm motility.
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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.