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. 2023 Apr 7;18(4):e0282579.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282579. eCollection 2023.

Acetylcholinesterase, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and association of ACHE SNP rs 17228602 with male infertility

Khulah Sadia  1 , Mbah Ntepe Leonel Javeres  2 , Faheem Tahir  3 , Syed Tahir Abbas Shah  1 , Rabia Habib  1 , Zahid Muneer  1 , Sabir Hussain  1 , Syed Muhammad Nurulain  1
Affiliations

Acetylcholinesterase, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and association of ACHE SNP rs 17228602 with male infertility

Khulah Sadia et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Male infertility is a complex and polygenic reproductive disease. 10-15% of the males are affected by idiopathic infertility conditions. Acetylcholine (ACh), a major neurotransmitter has been reported to play a non-neuronal role as well. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the primary ACh hydrolyzing enzyme whose over or lower expression influence the availability of ACh for physiological roles. The purpose of the study was to find the possible impact and association of acetylcholinesterase, ACHE gene variant rs 17228602, and pro-inflammatory cytokines in clinically diagnosed infertile males. The study includes clinically diagnosed fifty non-infertile (control) and forty-five infertile males. Whole blood AChE enzymatic activity was measured. Genotyping of rs17228602 was carried out from peripheral blood by standard molecular methods. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were determined by the ELISA method. AChE enzyme was found to be significantly elevated in infertile than non-infertile males. ACHE SNP rs17228602 had shown significant association in dominant model (odd ratio = 0.378, 95% CI = 0.157-0.911, p-value 0.046). Pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β was notably increased with statistical significance (p ≤0.05) in male infertile patients. The study concludes and speculates that AChE plays role in the pathogenesis of male infertility through the modulation of inflammatory pathways. Further studies in this direction may resolve the idiopathic cases of male infertility. Other variants of ACHE and the association of miRNA for the regulation of AChE in male infertility are suggested for further insight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Identification of SNP rs17228602.
Visualization of PCR products after digestion with restriction enzyme Psp5II (PpuMI) are shown on 2% ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel. Genotypes are shown above the lane and fragment size to the left of figure.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Activity of acetylcholinesterase in infertile and non-infertile groups, (* significant at p<0.05).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Genotype frequency distribution in percentage (CC and CT) of rs17228602 AChE SNP in infertile and non-infertile male group.
(* significant at p<0.05).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Genotype frequency (CC and CT) of rs17228602 ACHE SNP in Primary and Secondary infertility.
* Shows the significance at p<0.05.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Genotype frequency (CC and CT) of rs17228602 AChE SNP in different types of infertility.
* Shows the significance at p<0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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