Identification and characterization of proteins in testis and epididymal sperms of Rattus norvegicus

The present study was conducted to identify and characterize proteins in the testis and sperm membrane abstract of male Rattus norvegcius. Male albino rats were dissected to collect spermatozoa from the testis and epididymis. Sperm membrane extract (SME) was prepared using deoxycholate detergent (DOC) (Naz et al 1986) [1]. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of total protein from testis and epididymal sperm membrane using was carried out by the method described by Lowry et al 1951 [2] and SDS-PAGE (Laemmli 1970) [3]. It can be concluded for the present study that the protein content was observed to be highest in caput and lowest in the cauda epididymis due to the maximum and minimum secretory activities respectively in these regions. The SDS-PAGE profile revealed 13 bands corresponding to molecular weight of 17, 20, 24, 35, 44, 45, 47, 55, 60, 80, 95, 115 and 133 kDa in testis; 20 bands corresponding to molecular weights 17, 20, 24, 26, 28, 33,35, 44, 45, 47, 55, 60, 64, 72, 80, 95, 115, 133, 135 and 170 kDa in caput;19 bands corresponding to molecular weights 17, 20, 24, 26, 28, 33,35, 44, 45, 47, 55, 60, 72, 80, 95, 115, 133, 135 and 170 kDa in corpus and 17 bands corresponding to molecular weights 17, 20, 24, 26, 33,35, 44, 45, 47, 55, 60, 72, 80, 95, 115, 133 and 135 kDa in the cauda epididymal sperm membrane extract.