%0 Journal Article
%T The spermatozoa caught in the net: the biological networks to study the male gametes post-ejaculatory life
%A Nicola Bernab¨°
%A Mauro Mattioli
%A Barbara Barboni
%J BMC Systems Biology
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1752-0509-4-87
%X The statistical analysis of resulting graphs showed that capacitation, AR and C¡ÉA networks follow the scale free topology and are characterized by low clustering. In all cases it was possible to identify the key molecules (Ca2+, ATP, P-Tyr, PKA, PLD1 in capacitation, Ca2+, ATP in AR and C¡ÉA) and to describe their role in signalling transduction. The effect of hubs elimination caused the collapse of networks structure, while the elimination of random selected nodes did not affected it.It was demonstrated that the post-ejaculatory life of male gametes is a series of events characterised by a high signalling efficiency and robustness against random failure. This strengthens the evidence that the adoption of biological networks modellization of capacitation and AR could increase the understanding of spermatozoa physiology, potentially opening new perspective in drug discovery, diagnosis and therapy of male infertility.The latest years are characterized by the amazing diffusion of biotechnologies of reproduction. In a relatively short period, many techniques have been developed and routinely introduced in Assisted Reproductive Technologies [1]. Unfortunately, this applicative knowledge is not paralleled by a correspondent increase in the understanding of the basics of reproductive biology. In fact, during the organism's life, the gametes undergo important processes of proliferation, differentiation and morpho-functional maturation whose biochemical and physiological determinants are still largely unknown. This is the case of the mammalian spermatozoa that, once ejaculated, are not immediately able to fertilize. Only after the interaction with the female genital tract for a relatively long period, from hours to days, depending on the species, these cells can recognize and bind the proteins of the oocyte glycoprotyeic coat, the zona pellucida (ZP). The physico-chemical modifications of spermatozoa (collectively known as "capacitation") involve the biochemical and biophysic
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1752-0509/4/87