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Heavy use of cannabis (marijuana) has been associated with decreased semen quality, which may reflect disruption of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the male reproductive tract by exogenous cannabinoids. Components of ECS have been previously described in human spermatozoa and in the rodent testis but there is little information on the ECS expression within the human testis. In this study we characterised the main components of the ECS by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on archived testis tissue samples from 15 patients, and by in silico analysis of existing transcriptome datasets from testicular cell populations. The presence of 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) in the human testis was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization imaging analysis. Endocannabinoid-synthesising enzymes; diacylglycerol lipase (DAGL) and N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine-specific phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD), were detected in germ cells and somatic cells, respectively. The cannabinoid receptors, CNR1 and CNR2 were detected at a low level in post-meiotic germ cells and Leydig- and peritubular cells. Different transcripts encoding distinct receptor isoforms (CB1, CB1A, CB1B and CB2A) were also differentially distributed, mainly in germ cells. The cannabinoid-metabolising enzymes were abundantly present; the α/β-hydrolase domain-containing protein 2 (ABHD2) in all germ cell types, except early spermatocytes, the monoacylglycerol lipase (MGLL) in Sertoli cells, and the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) in late spermatocytes and post-meiotic germ cells. Our findings are consistent with a direct involvement of the ECS in regulation of human testicular physiology, including spermatogenesis and Leydig cell function. The study provides new evidence supporting observations that recreational cannabis can have possible deleterious effects on human testicular function.
Pubmed ID: 31537814
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Collection of curated, non-redundant genomic DNA, transcript RNA, and protein sequences produced by NCBI. Provides a reference for genome annotation, gene identification and characterization, mutation and polymorphism analysis, expression studies, and comparative analyses. Accessed through the Nucleotide and Protein databases.
View all literature mentionsPublic database with millions of high-resolution images showing the spatial distribution of proteins in different normal human tissues and cancer types, as well as different human cell lines. The data is released together with application-specific validation performed for each antibody, including immunohistochemisty, Western blot analysis and, for a large fraction, a protein array assay and immunofluorescent based confocal microscopy. The database has been developed in a gene-centric manner with the inclusion of all human genes predicted from genome efforts. Search functionalities allow for complex queries regarding protein expression profiles, protein classes and chromosome location. Antibodies included have been analyzed using a standardized protocol in a single attempt without further efforts to optimize the procedure and therefore it cannot be excluded that certain observed binding properties are due to technical rather than biological reasons and that further optimization could result in a different outcome. Submission of antibodies: The Swedish Human Proteome Atlas (HPA) program, invites submission of antibodies from both academic and commercial sources to be included in the human protein atlas. All antibodies will be validated by the HPA-program by a standard procedure and antibodies that are accepted will be use in the tissue- profiling program to generate high-resolution immunohistochemistry images representing a wide spectrum of normal tissues and cancer types.
View all literature mentionsCommercial vendor and service provider of laboratory reagents and antibodies. Supplier of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software services.
View all literature mentionsPortal to interactively visualize genomic data. Provides reference sequences and working draft assemblies for collection of genomes and access to ENCODE and Neanderthal projects. Includes collection of vertebrate and model organism assemblies and annotations, along with suite of tools for viewing, analyzing and downloading data.
View all literature mentionsA commercial antibody supplier which supplies primary and secondary antibodies, biochemicals, proteins, peptides, lysates, immunoassays and other kits.
View all literature mentionsSoftware tool for fast and high throughput alignment of shotgun cDNA sequencing reads generated by transcriptomics technologies. Fast splice junction mapper for RNA-Seq reads. Aligns RNA-Seq reads to mammalian-sized genomes using ultra high-throughput short read aligner Bowtie, and then analyzes mapping results to identify splice junctions between exons.TopHat2 is accurate alignment of transcriptomes in presence of insertions, deletions and gene fusions.
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