Figure 5

Abnormal expression of DKKL1 mRNA in the testes of patients with male infertility. Top: RT-PCR studies examined DKKL1 expression in 15 infertile patients with SCOS (lanes 2–4), with spermatogenic arrest at various stages (lanes 5–7, arrest at spermatogonium; lanes 8–10, arrest at primary spermatocyte; lanes 11–13, arrest at spermatid), with cryptorchidism (lanes 14–16), or with normal testis(lanes 17–19). The results indicate that DKKL1 is not expressed in the testes of patients with SCOS or cryptorchidism. DKKL1 expression is variable in patients with spermatogenic arrest. In patients with arrest at the spermatogonium and primary spermatocyte stage, DKKL1 is not expressed, but in patients with arrest at the spermatid stage, DKKL1 is weakly expressed. In normal samples containing spermatogenic cells of every stage, DKKL1 expression is strong. Bottom: The expression of human GAPDH mRNA is displayed as a positive control.