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We found the lactate concentration on the varicocele side of the patients was decreased compare with peripheral venous blood. In the testicles, the lactate produced by the sertoli cells through the glycolysis pathway provides most of the energy needed for spermatogenesis, the reduction of lactate will affect spermatogenesis. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism of this abnormal energy metabolism phenomenon in varicocele.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this study, we collected the testicular tissue from patients with varicocele, the glycolysis related proteins PHGDH was identified by iTRAQ proteomics technology. Experimental rat varicocele model was constructed according to our new clip technique, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PHGDH were examined with qRT-PCR and Western blotting. We constructed a sertoli cell of PHGDH down-regulation model, and then detected the glucose consumption, LDH activities and lactate production in the sertoli cells. Western blot was conducted to investigate the effects of PHGDH on the expression of phosphoserine phosphatase (PSPH) and Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2). Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell apoptosis and cell cycle in sertoli cells.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The results showed that testicular protein PHGDH was down-regulated in patients with varicocele and in experimental rat varicocele model. Down-regulation of PHGDH in sertoli cells significantly decreased the glucose consumption, LDH activities and lactate production in the sertoli cells, indicating that the low expression of PHGDH ultimately led to a decrease in lactate production by affecting the glycolysis. The Western blot results showed that the down-regulation of PHGDH significantly reduced the expression of pathway protein PSPH and PKM2, leading to the reduction of lactate production. Moreover, PHGDH knockdown can promote apoptosis and inhibit cell cycle to affect cell growth.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overall, we conformed that varicocele lead to the decreasing of testis lactate production. Down-regulation of PHGDH in sertoli cells may mediate the process of abnormal glucose metabolism. Our study provide new insight into the mechanisms underlying metabolism-associated male infertility and suggests a novel therapeutic target for male infertility.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12958-020-00625-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,14]],"date-time":"2020-07-14T03:02:57Z","timestamp":1594695777000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Down regulating PHGDH affects the lactate production of sertoli cells in varicocele"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Wen-bin","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhen-hui","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cheng","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xian-yuan","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hu","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian-kun","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qi-zhao","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ming-kun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kang-yi","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cun-dong","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"625_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.5534\/wjmh.2013.31.1.12","volume":"31","author":"WS Choi","year":"2013","unstructured":"Choi WS, Kim SW. 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Written informed consent was obtained from each healthy donor, and the experimental protocol was established according to the associated national guidelines from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"All co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and.have agreed to its submission for publication. All patients signed informed.written consent forms.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"70"}}