Surface glycans contribute to differences between seminal prostasomes from normozoospermic and oligozoospermic men

AbstractBackground: Extracellular vesicles (EVs), released from the plasma membrane or intracellular compartments, have a specific composition related to their parent cells, but they can, additionally, be modified by the extracellular environment. Although glycans are known to contribute to EV composition and may have biomedical importance as biomarkers and recognition signals, they have not been extensively investigated. In this study, seminal prostasomes, i.e. EVs from seminal plasma (SP) of normo- and oligozoospermic men, were analyzed in order to detect possible changes in their surface glycans under altered physiological conditions.Methods: Prostasomes were isolated from pooled SP by differential centrifugation and gel filtration, followed by glycobiochemical characterization using lectin/immune-transmission microscopy and ion-exchange chromatography.Results: Within the frame of overall similarity in protein composition, surface glycans specifically contributed to the differences between the examined...