Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Enzyme Gene Expression of Infertile Men Before and After Sperm Activation in vitro

Al-naji, Noor H.; Aziz, Ismail H.; Al-Dujaily, Saad S.

doi:10.21608/ejmm.2025.412713.1826

	Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Enzyme Gene Expression of Infertile Men Before and After Sperm Activation in vitro
Egyptian Journal of Medical Microbiology
Volume 35, Issue 2, April 2026
Document Type: Review articles
DOI: 10.21608/ejmm.2025.412713.1826
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Authors
Noor H. Al-naji ¹; Ismail H. Aziz ²; Saad S. Al-Dujaily³
¹Biology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Kufa, Najaf, Iraq
²Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology for Postgraduate Studies, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
³Department of Physiology, High Institute for Infertility Diagnosis and Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq
Abstract
*Background:* Infertility is characterized by the inability to achieve pregnancy after engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse for at least one year. Objective: This study aims to examine the expression levels of the GSK3A gene in infertile men, both before and after in vitro sperm activation. Methodology: Semen samples from 100 men: 50 with (oligozoospermia and oligoasthenozoospermia) as patients or infertile men and 50 healthy controls were collected at Al-Najaf Fertility Center. In vitro sperm activation was performed using FertiCult™ flushing medium with the swim-up technique, and GSK3A gene expression was measured by RT-qPCR. Results: The data of this study demonstrated significant improvement in progressive sperm motility (P < 0.006) and morphologically normal sperm (P < 0.001) in both the control and infertile men following in vitro activation compared to pre-activation values. The expression levels of GSK3A gene after activation showed a significant difference (P<0.01, P<0.035) in oligozoospermia and oligoasthenozoospermia subgroups compared to before activation, while the gene expression of control group after activation showed non- significant difference (P>0.05) compared to before activation. Conclusion: The study showed that after swim-up activation, sperm quality improved with higher progressive motility and normal morphology, while GSK3A expression improved significantly only the oligoasthenozoospermia subgroup.
Keywords
Gene expression; GSK3A; in vitro activation; Male Infertility


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