Figure 1

VDR expression in human ejaculated spermatozoa. A: Reverse transcription-PCR analysis of human VDR, CD45 and c-Kit genes in percolled human spermatozoa (S1 and S2), negative control (no M-MLV reverse transcriptase added) (-), positive controls (MCF7 breast cancer cells for VDR, human germ cells for c-Kit and human leucocytes for CD45) (+), marker (lane M). Arrows indicated the expected size of the PCR products. B: Western blot of VDR protein in human sperm, expression in two samples of ejaculated spermatozoa from normal men (S1, S2). MCF-7 and LNCaP extracts were used as positive controls. C: VDR expression in severe oligoastenozoospermic patients. NC = Normal uncapacitated sample; P1, P2 = pathologic samples. D: Western blot of 1alpha--hydroxylase protein in human sperm, expression in two samples of ejaculated spermatozoa from normal men (S1, S2). MCF-7 extracts was used as positive control (+). The experiments were repeated at least four times for RT-PCR, seven times for Western blot and the autoradiographs of the figure show the results of one representative experiment.