Nerve growth factor alleviates arsenic-induced testicular injury by enhancing the function of Sertoli cells.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf
; 280: 116578, 2024 Jul 15.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38861803
ABSTRACT
Sertoli cells (SCs) maintain testicular homeostasis and promote spermatogenesis by forming the blood-testis barrier (BTB) and secreting growth factors. The pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of nerve growth factor (NGF) on SCs have been proved previously. It is still unclear whether the damage effect of arsenic on testis is related to the inhibition of NGF expression, and whether NGF can mitigate arsenic-induced testicular damage by decreasing the damage of SCs induced by arsenic. Here, the lower expression of NGF in testes of arsenic exposed mice (freely drinking water containing 15â¯mg/l of NaAsO2) was observed through detection of Western blot and Real-time PCR. Subsequently, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, Evans blue staining and transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the pathology, BTB permeability and tight junction integrity in testes of control mice, arsenic exposed mice (freely drinking water containing 15â¯mg/l of NaAsO2) and arsenic + NGF treated mice (freely drinking water containing 15â¯mg/l of NaAsO2 + intraperitoneal injection with 30⯵g/kg of NGF), respectively. Evidently, spermatogenic tubule epithelial cells in testis of arsenic exposed mice were disordered and the number of cell layers was reduced, accompanied by increased permeability and damaged integrity of the tight junction in BTB, but these changes were less obvious in testes of mice treated with arsenic + NGF. In addition, the sperm count, motility and malformation rate of mice treated with arsenic + NGF were also improved. On the basis of the above experiments, the viability and apoptosis of primary cultured SCs treated with arsenic (10⯵M NaAsO2) or arsenic + NGF (10⯵M NaAsO2 + 100â¯ng/mL NGF) were detected by Cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) and transferase-mediated DUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining, respectively. It is found that NGF ameliorated the decline of growth activity and the increase of apoptosis in arsenic-induced SCs. This remarkable biological effect that NGF inhibited the increase of Bax expression and the decrease of Bcl-2 expression in arsenic-induced SCs was also determined by western blot and Real-time PCR. Moreover, the decrease in transmembrane resistance (TEER) and the expression of tight junction proteins ZO-1 and occludin was mitigated in SCs induced by arsenic due to NGF treatment. In conclusion, the above results confirmed that NGF could ameliorate the injury effects of arsenic on testis, which might be related to the function of NGF to inhibit arsenic-induced SCs injury.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Arsenic
/
Sertoli Cells
/
Testis
/
Blood-Testis Barrier
/
Nerve Growth Factor
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf
/
Ecotoxicol. environ. saf
/
Ecotoxicology and environmental safety
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
Países Bajos