Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Apr 28;16(1):41.
doi: 10.1186/s12958-018-0358-6.

The enigmatic seminal plasma: a proteomics insight from ejaculation to fertilization

Luna Samanta  1   2 , Rajeshwari Parida  2 , Tania R Dias  1   3   4   5 , Ashok Agarwal  6
Affiliations
Review

The enigmatic seminal plasma: a proteomics insight from ejaculation to fertilization

Luna Samanta et al. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. .

Abstract

Background: The 'omics' approach for a noninvasive diagnosis of male reproductive system disorders has gained momentum during the last decade, particularly from a screening and prognosis point of view. Due to the rapid development in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) over the years, the major focus of proteomic studies has been around the ejaculated spermatozoa. Although seminal plasma is not a requirement for ART, the question arose whether the role of seminal plasma is merely to transport spermatozoa.

Main body: Seminal plasma (SP) contains a large diversity of proteins that are essential not only for sperm transport, but also for sperm protection and maturation. Most of the proteins bind to sperm surface through exosomes (epididymosomes and prostasomes), modulating sperm function, interaction with the female reproductive tract and finally fertilization. This review focuses on the state-of-art discoveries regarding SP proteome and its role in fertilization.

Conclusion: Tissue-specific proteins in the SP have emerged as fundamental contributors for protein biomarker discovery. This is important for a noninvasive diagnosis of male infertility and development of new therapeutic approaches. Moreover, ART success rates may be improved by taking into account the critical role of seminal proteome in fertilization.

Keywords: Assisted reproductive technologies; Cytokines; Epididymosomes; Exosomes; Female reproductive tract; Male infertility; Prostasomes; Proteomics; Seminal plasma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Composition of seminal plasma including the secretions from testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles, prostate, and bulbourethral and periurethral glands
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Role of seminal extracellular vesicles, epididymosomes and prostasomes, and their proteome on spermatozoa function
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gonzales GF, Villena A. True corrected seminal fructose level: a better marker of the function of seminal vesicles in infertile men. Int J Androl. 2001;24:255–260. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2605.2001.00306.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Drake RR, White KY, Fuller TW, Igwe E, Clements MA, Nyalwidhe JO, Given RW, Lance RS, Semmes OJ. Clinical collection and protein properties of expressed prostatic secretions as a source for biomarkers of prostatic disease. J Proteome. 2009;72:907–917. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2009.01.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Milardi D, Grande G, Vincenzoni F, Messana I, Pontecorvi A, De Marinis L, Castagnola M, Marana R. Proteomic approach in the identification of fertility pattern in seminal plasma of fertile men. Fertil Steril. 2012;97:67–73. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.10.013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Primakoff P, Myles DG. Penetration, adhesion, and fusion in mammalian sperm-egg interaction. Sci. 2002;296:2183–2185. doi: 10.1126/science.1072029. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Robertson SA. Seminal plasma and male factor signalling in the female reproductive tract. Cell Tissue Res. 2005;322:43–52. doi: 10.1007/s00441-005-1127-3. - DOI - PubMed