Molecular Regulatory Mechanism of Nano-Se Against Copper-Induced Spermatogenesis Disorder.

Selenium nanoparticle (Nano-Se) is a new type of selenium supplement, which can improve the deficiency of traditional selenium supplements and maintain its physiological activity. Due to industrial pollution and irrational use in agriculture, Cu overexposure often occurs in animals and humans. In this study, Nano-Se alleviated CuSO ₄ -induced testicular Cu accumulation, serum testosterone level decrease, testicular structural damage, and decrease in sperm quality. Meanwhile, Nano-Se reduced the ROS content in mice testis and enhanced the activities of T-AOC, GSH, SOD, and CAT compared with CuSO ₄ group. Furthermore, Nano-Se alleviated CuSO ₄ -induced apoptosis by increasing the protein expression of Cleaved-Caspase-3, Cleaved-Caspase-9, Cleaved-Caspase-12, and Bax/Bcl-2 compared with CuSO ₄ group. At the same time, Nano-Se reversed CuSO ₄ -induced increase of γ-H2AX protein expression in mice testis. In conclusion, this study confirmed that Nano-Se could alleviate oxidative stress, apoptosis, and DNA damage in the testis of mice with Cu excess, thereby protecting the spermatogenesis disorder induced by Cu.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval: All procedures related to animals were conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Animal Care and the Ethics Committee of Sichuan Agricultural University (Approval No: 2012–024, Chengdu, China). Consent for Publication: All the authors have consented to the publication of this research.
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