1. Decreased spermatogenesis led to alterations of testis-specific gene expression in male mice following nano-TiO2 exposure.
- Author
-
Hong F, Zhao X, Si W, Ze Y, Wang L, Zhou Y, Hong J, Yu X, Sheng L, Liu D, Xu B, and Zhang J
- Subjects
- Animals, Body Weight drug effects, Epididymis drug effects, Epididymis metabolism, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred ICR, Nanoparticles metabolism, Semen cytology, Semen drug effects, Spermatozoa drug effects, Titanium metabolism, Gene Expression drug effects, Nanoparticles toxicity, Spermatogenesis drug effects, Testis drug effects, Testis metabolism, Titanium toxicity
- Abstract
Although TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) exposure has been demonstrated to cross blood-testis barrier and accumulate in the testis resulting in the reduction of sperm numbers, limited data with respect to the molecular mechanism of decreased spermatogenesis caused by TiO2 NP exposure. In this research, testicular damage, sperm number and alterations in testis-specific gene expressions in male mice induced by intragastric administration with TiO2 NPs for six months were investigated. It was found out that TiO2 NPs could migrate to cells, deposit in the testis and epididymis and thus cause damages to relevant organs, which are, to be more specific, the reductions of total sperm concentrations and sperm motility and an enhancement in the number of abnormal sperms in the cauda epididymis. Furthermore, the individual expression regarding to the mRNAs and proteins of testis-specific genes, including Cdc2, Cyclin B1, Dmcl, TERT, Tesmin, TESP-1, XPD and XRCCI, were significantly declined, whereas Gsk3-β and PGAM4 expressions were greatly elevated in mouse testis due to the exposures, which in fact implied that the reduced spermatogenesis may be involved in the alternated testis-specific gene expressions in those exposed male mice., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF