Roles of regulatory small non-coding rnas in the spermatogenesis / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

Non-coding RNA (ncRNA), expressed widely in organisms and comprised of a complex, regulatory and controlling biologically network, is an emerging theme in the biomedicine field at present. Regulatory sncRNAs, for example, microRNA (miRNA), endogenous small interfering RNA (siRNA) and PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), are the key members of the gene regulatory network and play important roles in the regulation of multiple pathophysiological activities in cells. Male infertility, a serious social problem all over the world, is mainly related the malfunctions of the spermatogenesis caused by known or unknown factors; and finally result in azoospermia, oligozoospermia or asthenospermia. Recent research indicated that regulatory sncRNAs play important roles in the development, differentiation and mature of the germ cells and their functions at different stages by silencing the transposable elements and regulating the expression of coding gene; and their abnormal expression in germ cells at different stage is closely related to male infertility. In this review, the roles and recent progresses of regulatory sncRNA focusing on piRNA to provide insight for future research in this field and for the diagnoses, interventions and treatments of male infertility are briefly summarized.