N-Methyl-d-aspartic Acid (NMDA) Receptor Is Involved in the Inhibitory Effect of Ketamine on Human Sperm Functions |
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| Authors: | Ying Chen Wenqing Xu Yuan Yuan Houyang Chen Shuangyan Zheng Yuanqiao He Tao Luo |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Institute of Life Science and School of Life Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China; (Y.C.); (W.X.); (Y.Y.);2.Key Laboratory of Reproductive Physiology and Pathology in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang 330031, China;3.Department of Laboratory Animal Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China;4.Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Laboratory Animal, Nanchang 330031, China |
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| Abstract: | Ketamine, which used to be widely applied in human and animal medicine as a dissociative anesthetic, has become a popular recreational drug because of its hallucinogenic effect. Our previous study preliminarily proved that ketamine could inhibit human sperm function by affecting intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i). However, the specific signaling pathway of [Ca2+]i induced by ketamine in human sperm is still not clear yet. Here, the N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor was detected in the tail region of human sperm. Its physiological ligand, NMDA (50 μM), could reverse ketamine’s inhibitory effect on human sperm function, and its antagonist, MK801 (100 μM), could restrain the effect of NMDA. The inhibitory effect caused by 4 mM ketamine or 100 μM MK801 on [Ca2+]i, which is a central factor in the regulation of human sperm function, could also be recovered by 50 μM NMDA. The results suggest that the NMDA receptor is probably involved in the inhibitory effect of ketamine on human sperm functions. |
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| Keywords: | NMDA receptor NMDA ketamine human sperm functions intracellular calcium concentration |
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