Expresión y función de la quinasa activada por AMP, AMPK, en el espermatozoide humano

Résumé

The present Doctoral Thesis hypothesized that the AMPK may represent an intracellular signalling pathway that regulates human sperm function. The objectives were: 1) To identify and determine the intracellular location of AMPK and its active form (phosphorylated) in human spermatozoa. 2) To investigate the possible relationship between AMPK activity and human sperm quality. 3) To study the role of the AMPK pathway in the main physiological processes of human spermatozoa. 4) To investigate the effect of the indirect activator of AMPK, metformin, in the physiology of human spermatozoa, due to its current clinical use. The scientific data included in this Doctoral Thesis allowed us to reach the following conclusions: 1) AMPK, as well as its active form, were identified in human spermatozoa and is located in the acrosome, midpiece and flagellum and its phosphorylated whereas her active form is restricted to the flagellum and the acrosome. 2) AMPK is more active in human spermatozoa exhibiting higher quality. 3) AMPK regulates motility in human spermatozoa. Nevertheless, AMPK is not involved in other functional processes of human spermatozoa, such as spermatozoa viability, mitochondrial membrane potential maintenance, acrosomal membrane integrity, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production or translocation of phosphatidylserine to the outer leaf of the membrane. 4) Metformin causes a decrease in sperm motility.