Methylmercury-induced testis damage is associated with activation of oxidative stress and germ cell autophagy | Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)

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Citation
Tags

HERO ID

5020694

Reference Type

Journal Article

Title

Methylmercury-induced testis damage is associated with activation of oxidative stress and germ cell autophagy

Author(s)

Chen, N; Lin, M; Liu, N; Wang, S; Xiao, X

Year

2019

Is Peer Reviewed?

Yes

Journal

Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry
ISSN: 0162-0134
EISSN: 1873-3344

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Location

NEW YORK

Volume

190

Page Numbers

67-74

Language

English

PMID

30366167

DOI

10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2018.10.007

Web of Science Id

WOS:000452938900007

URL

http://://WOS:000452938900007
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Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a widespread environmental pollutant and causes a serious hazard to testicular development and spermatogenesis. However, molecular mechanisms underlying male reproductive toxicity induced by MeHg remain elusive. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of MeHg on autophagy induction in germ cells (GCs). In this study, we showed that orally administered MeHg 10 mg/kg per day for five consecutive days resulted in reduced sperm count and impaired sperm motility. Noteworthy, MeHg impaired the seminiferous tubule of rats and increased the apoptotic index of GCs of rats. Furthermore, the levels of the autophagy markers light chain 3-II (LC3-II) and beclin-1 were significantly increased following MeHg treatment, possibly via inhibiting the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (m-TOR) signaling pathway. In addition, these effects are concomitant with the overgeneration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the decreased expression of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT). Interestingly, supplementation with MeHg induced oxidative DNA damage in testes of rats. Taken together, our data indicated that MeHg stimulates GC apoptosis through oxidative stress and autophagy, which may be the mechanism responsible for the regulation of testis function and differentiation following MeHg exposure.

Keywords

Methylmercury; Germ cells; Autophagy; Apoptosis; Oxidative stress; oxygen species formation; dna-damage; dependent apoptosis; mercuric-chloride; exposure; inhibition; neurotoxicity; mitochondria; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Chemistry