Effect of Vasectomy on P34H Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Expression along the Human Excurrent Duct: A Reflection on the Function of the Human Epididymis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Sperm surface proteins involved in fertilization can be added or modified during epididymal transit. P34H, a human epididymal-sperm protein, appears on the sperm acrosomal cap in the distal caput-proximal corpus epididymis. In previous studies, it was shown that P34H is present on spermatozoa in men of proven fertility, is absent in 50% of men presenting with idiopathic infertility, and that a high proportion of men with normospermic vasovasectomy produce spermatozoa deficient in this sperm surface protein. P34H mRNA was expressed in the principal cells of the epididymis of normal men, predominantly in the corpus region. Recently, results coming from the assisted reproductive technologies have questioned the importance of the human epididymis in sperm maturation. In order to understand the effect of obstruction on the physiological state of the human epididymis and its function in sperm maturation, we have analyzed the expression of P34H mRNA at the level of the vas deferens and along the epididymis of normal and vasectomized men. In situ hybridization experiments showed that obstruction of the vas deferens alters the pattern of P34H mRNA expression compared with the tract of normal tissues. The P34H transcript was detected in the proximal caput epididymis of vasectomized men at a much higher intensity than that observed in the same region of normal tissues, being restricted to the principal cells of the epididymal epithelium. Compared with the normal duct, the lumen of vasectomized men was distended throughout the duct and the height of the epithelium was maximal in the caput. P34H mRNA was detectable in vas deferens, was not affected by vasectomy, and a 912-base pair P34H transcript was restricted to the epithelial cells of the vas deferens. Thus, using P34H as a marker, these results show that vasectomy alters the pattern of gene expression along the human epididymis, and suggest that the vas deferens can be a major contributor to sperm maturation in certain situations.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".