Altered Endothelin Receptor Expression in Idiopathic Male Infertility: A Potential Therapeutic Target
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Objective: Idiopathic male infertility is frequently associated with impaired semen quality, particularly in men diagnosed with oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT) syn- drome. Recent studies suggest a potential role of the endothelin (ET) system, particu- larly ET receptors A (ETAR) and B (ETBR), in male reproductive physiology. Moreover, antiestrogens such as tamoxifen and clomiphene, which are commonly used empiri- cally in this context, may influence ET signaling pathways. However, the relationship between ET receptor expression and specific subtypes of male infertility remains poorly understood. Methods: Semen samples were collected from 56 men: 15 fertile controls with normo- zoospermia and 41 infertile men with abnormal semen parameters, including 22 with OAT syndrome and 19 with isolated teratozoospermia. Men with identifiable female- factor infertility were excluded. Seminal ETAR and ETBR expression were analyzed using immunofluorescence microscopy, Western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosor- bent assay (ELISA), and flow cytometry. Results: The ETAR expression was significantly reduced in infertile men compared to fertile controls (P < .05). The ETBR was undetectable in all samples from patients with OAT syndrome. Notably, 2 distinct ETAR expression profiles were observed within the OAT group: one subgroup with ETAR levels comparable to controls and another with markedly diminished expression, indicating potential phenotypic heterogeneity within OAT syndrome. Conclusion: Altered ETAR expression and the absence of ETBR in men with idiopathic infertility, particularly those with OAT syndrome, highlight a potential role for ET sig- naling in male reproductive dysfunction. Stratification based on ETAR expression may support individualized therapeutic strategies, including ET-targeted or antiestrogen- based therapies, to improve fertility outcomes in this population.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
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 | 0.000 |
| 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".