The Action of Physiological and Synthetic Steroids on the Calcium Channel CatSper in Human Sperm
Wehrli, L.; Galdadas, I.; Voirol, L.; Smieško, M.; Cambet, Y.; Jaquet, V.; Guerrier, S.; Gervasio, F. L.; Nef, S.; Rahban, R.
Front Cell Dev Biol 11, 1221578 (2023)
The sperm-specific channel CatSper (cation channel of sperm) controls the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and plays an essential role in sperm function
It is mainly activated by the steroid progesterone (P4) but is also promiscuously activated by a wide range of synthetic and physiological compounds. These compounds include diverse steroids whose action on the channel is so far still controversial. To investigate the effect of these compounds on CatSper and sperm function, we developed a high-throughput screening (HTS) assay to measure changes in [Ca2+]i in human sperm and screened 1,280 approved and off-patent drugs including 90 steroids from the Prestwick chemical library.