Gasoline exhaust damages spermatogenesis through downregulating α6-integrin andβ1-integrinin the rat model

Abstract

The health influence of air pollution has been an international public health concern. Increasing evidence has suggested that air pollution has been associated with decreased sperm quality. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still not fully elucidated. We aimed to verify whether gasoline exhaust leads to reproductive impairment by injuring spermatogonial stem cells and explore its underlying molecular mechanism. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups: the exposure group (n = 10) and the control group (n = 10). After 6-month exposure, the sperm count and morphology were determined. The histological changes in the seminiferous tubules were examined by HE staining. The expression of α6-integrin and β1-integrin was assessed with Quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot and Immunohistochemical staining. Compared with control group, male rats exposed to gasoline exhaust showed significantly reduced sperm count, increased sperm abnormality rate and the total number of spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes, secondary spermatocytes, spermatids were decreased. (all p < .01). The expression levels of α6-integrin and β1-integrin in the exposure group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all p < .01). Our study showed that exposure to gasoline exhaust caused impairment to spermatogonial stem cells through downregulating α6-integrin and β1-integrin.

The Effects of Gasoline Vapor Inhalation on Serum Level of Testosterone and Testes Tissue in Male Rats

“…Reducing the expression level of two genes: "α6 -integrin and β1 -integrin" has been shown to play a regulatory mechanism for reducing spermatogenesis in gasoline inhaling subjects (29). In contrast to our findings there are studies suggesting that exposure to gasoline vapors can reduce spermatocytes and Leydig cells count (30).…”

Mechanical communication-associated cell directional migration and branching connections mediated by calcium channels, integrin β1, and N-cadherin

“…The efficiency of siRNA transfection was assessed with mRNA expression by real-time quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) assay, which was described in our recent work ( Fang et al, 2022 ). The sequences of associated Q-PCR primers for rat ITGB1 were GAA​TGG​AGT​GAA​TGG​GAC​AGG​AG (ITGB1 forward), CAG​ATG​AAC​TGA​AGG​ACC​ACC​TC (ITGB1 reverse), the control GAPDH primers AGG​TCG​GTG​TGA​ACG​GAT​TTG (forward), and GGG​GTC​GTT​GAT​GGC​AAC​A (reverse) ( Luo et al, 2018 ), and for rat N-cadherin primers GTT​TAC​AGC​GCA​GTC​TTA​CCG​AAG (forward) and ATT​TCT​TCC​CTT​TCA​TGT​GGT​TCC (reverse). PowerUp SYBR Green Master Mix (#A25742, Applied Biosystems, CA) was used for PCR amplification.…”

Concentrated ambient PM2.5exposure affects mice sperm quality and testosterone biosynthesis

“…The paraffin was sectioned about five μm thick and further stained using hematoxylin-eosin. Morphological changes were observed under a microscope (Luo et al, 2018). A pathologist, blinded to the sample groupings, was hired to take images which cover the entire testicular tissues of each testis in two consecutive sections.…”