Use of spermatozoal total RNA profiles to study gene-environment interactions in human germ cells

Paternal exposure to genotoxic compounds is thought to contribute to diseases in their offspring. Therefore, mRNA profiles from sperm in ejaculates of cigarette smokers (N=4) were compared with non-smokers (N=4). Smoking behaviour was verified by assessing cotinine levels in seminal plasma. Gene-expression analysis was subsequently performed using microarray technology (Agilent human 4x44k) to investigate the use of gene-expression profiling as biomarker of gene-environment interactions in human testis The study investigated differential gene expression in spermatozoal RNA from 4 smokers as compared to 4 non-smokers. Two conditions: smoking or non-smoking. One individual per array, hybridized against a common reference sample.