The role of sperm associated antigen 6 gene in morphological changes of inner ear development and signal regulation of auditory organs in mice

Abstract Aim In order to analyze the effects of the deletion of the Sperm Associated Antigen 6 (Spag6) gene on the inner ear and the auditory system of mice. Method: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) / Cas9 technology was utilized, and the Spag6 gene knockout mouse model was constructed. Self-breeding was carried out to obtain the F1 generation Spag6 homozygous mouse (Spag-/-), the Spag6 heterozygous mouse (Spag+/-) and the Spag6 wild mouse (Spag+/+) were obtained. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techonology was used to verify the three genotypes of mice. The mean hearing threshold of Spag-/- mice, Spag+/- mice and Spag+/+ mice after different intensity of sound stimulation was detected. The inner ear cochlea tissues of Spag-/- mice and Spag+/+ mice were collected and paraffin sections were made. Morphological differences of inner ear tissues in mice were analyzed by hematoxylin - eosin (HE) staining. Immunofluorescence staining was used to analyze the number of hair cells in the inner ear of mice. Apoptosis of mouse inner ear hair cells was analyzed by TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) staining. Result: it was found that the hearing of Spag-/- mice decreased significantly compared with that of Spag+/+ mice (P