Sirtuin proteins are evolutionary conserved Sir2-related NAD+-dependent deacetylases and regulate many of cellular processes such as metabolism, inflammation, transcription, and aging. Sirtuin contains activity of either ADP-ribosyl-transferase or deacetyltranfease and their activity is dependent on the localization in cells. However, the expression pattern of Sirtuins has not been well studied. To examine the expression levels of Sirtuins, RT-PCR was performed using total RNAs from various tissues including liver, small intestine, heart, brain, kidney, lung, spleen, stomach, uterus, ovary, and testis. Sirtuins were highly expressed in most of tissues including the testis. Immunostaining assay showed that Sirt1 and Sirt6 were mainly located in the nucleus of germ cells, spermatocytes, and spermatids in the seminiferous tubules, whereas Sirt2 and Sirt5 were exclusively present in the cytoplasm of germ cells and sperma-tocytes. Our results indicate that Sirtuins may function as regulators of spermatogenesis and their activities might be dependent on their location in the seminiferous tubules.

ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 REFERENCES

• Byeong Seong Ki(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University)
• Miree Park(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University)
• Yunmi Woo(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University)
• Woo Sik Lee(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University)
• Jung Jae Ko(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University)
• Youngsok Choi(Department of Biomedical Science, CHA University) Corresponding author