{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T09:46:32Z","timestamp":1769161592003,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,31]],"date-time":"2023-05-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1685491200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>The proximal region of the mouse epididymis plays a pivotal role in sperm transport, sperm maturation, and male fertility. Several studies have focused on segment-dependent gene expression of the mouse epididymis through high-throughput sequencing without the precision of the microdissection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods and results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Herein, we isolated the initial segment (IS) and proximal caput (P-caput) by physical microdissection using an<jats:italic>Lcn9<\/jats:italic>-<jats:italic>cre<\/jats:italic>;<jats:italic>Rosa26<jats:sup>tdTomato<\/jats:sup><\/jats:italic>mouse model. We defined the transcriptome changes of caput epididymis by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), which identified 1,961 genes that were abundantly expressed in the IS and 1,739 genes that were prominently expressed in the P-caput. In addition, we found that many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were predominantly or uniquely expressed in the epididymis and region-specific genes were highly associated with transport, secretion, sperm motility, fertilization, and male fertility.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Thus, this study provides an RNA-seq resource to identify region-specific genes in the caput epididymis. The epididymal-selective\/specific genes are potential targets for male contraception and may provide new insights into understanding segment-specific epididymal microenvironment-mediated sperm transport, maturation, and male fertility.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2023.1190890","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,31]],"date-time":"2023-05-31T13:45:25Z","timestamp":1685540725000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Transcriptome profiling of the initial segment and proximal caput of mouse 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