Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought?
Several strands of evidence indicate the presence of marked similarities between human brain and testis. Understanding these similarities and their implications has become a topic of interest among the scientific community. Indeed, an association of intelligence with some semen quality parameters ha...
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doaj-3c1fdf810da54c368759b8bd69884a712021-06-10T08:56:06ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412021-06-0111610.1098/rsob.200322Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought?Bárbara Matos0Stephen J. Publicover1Luis Filipe C. Castro2Pedro J. Esteves3Margarida Fardilha4Laboratory of Signal Transduction, Department of Medical Sciences, Institute of Biomedicine—iBiMED, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalSchool of Biosciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UKCIIMAR/CIMAR—Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Porto, PortugalDepartment of Biology, FCUP—Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, PortugalLaboratory of Signal Transduction, Department of Medical Sciences, Institute of Biomedicine—iBiMED, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalSeveral strands of evidence indicate the presence of marked similarities between human brain and testis. Understanding these similarities and their implications has become a topic of interest among the scientific community. Indeed, an association of intelligence with some semen quality parameters has been reported and a relation between dysfunctions of the human brain and testis has also been evident. Numerous common molecular features are evident when these tissues are compared, which is reflected in the huge number of common proteins. At the functional level, human neurons and sperm share a number of characteristics, including the importance of the exocytotic process and the presence of similar receptors and signalling pathways. The common proteins are mainly involved in exocytosis, tissue development and neuron/brain-associated biological processes. With this analysis, we conclude that human brain and testis share several biochemical characteristics which, in addition to their involvement in the speciation process, could, at least in part, be responsible for the expression of a huge number of common proteins. Nonetheless, this is an underexplored topic, and the connection between these tissues needs to be clarified, which could help to understand the dysfunctions affecting brain and testis, as well as to develop improved therapeutic strategies.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.200322brainneurontestisspermmolecular |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Bárbara Matos Stephen J. Publicover Luis Filipe C. Castro Pedro J. Esteves Margarida Fardilha |
spellingShingle |
Bárbara Matos Stephen J. Publicover Luis Filipe C. Castro Pedro J. Esteves Margarida Fardilha Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? Open Biology brain neuron testis sperm molecular |
author_facet |
Bárbara Matos Stephen J. Publicover Luis Filipe C. Castro Pedro J. Esteves Margarida Fardilha |
author_sort |
Bárbara Matos |
title |
Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
title_short |
Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
title_full |
Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
title_fullStr |
Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
title_sort |
brain and testis: more alike than previously thought? |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
series |
Open Biology |
issn |
2046-2441 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
Several strands of evidence indicate the presence of marked similarities between human brain and testis. Understanding these similarities and their implications has become a topic of interest among the scientific community. Indeed, an association of intelligence with some semen quality parameters has been reported and a relation between dysfunctions of the human brain and testis has also been evident. Numerous common molecular features are evident when these tissues are compared, which is reflected in the huge number of common proteins. At the functional level, human neurons and sperm share a number of characteristics, including the importance of the exocytotic process and the presence of similar receptors and signalling pathways. The common proteins are mainly involved in exocytosis, tissue development and neuron/brain-associated biological processes. With this analysis, we conclude that human brain and testis share several biochemical characteristics which, in addition to their involvement in the speciation process, could, at least in part, be responsible for the expression of a huge number of common proteins. Nonetheless, this is an underexplored topic, and the connection between these tissues needs to be clarified, which could help to understand the dysfunctions affecting brain and testis, as well as to develop improved therapeutic strategies. |
topic |
brain neuron testis sperm molecular |
url |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.200322 |
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