ABSTRACT
The treatment of spinal cord injury has been the research priorities in basic and clinical medicine. This article described the mechanism of minocycline in treating spinal cord injury, including antioxidant activity, reduction of apoptosis, anti-inflammatory activity and selective regulation of microglia activation, and recent advances in clinical trials of minocycline. Minocycline targets multiple secondary injury mechanisms to promote the recovery of spinal cord injury, and further basic and clinical research will maximize the efficacy of minocycline.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in the apoptosis of testicular germ cells in hyperlipidemic rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We randomly assigned 42 four-week-old male Wistar rats into a normal control group (n = 12) and a high-fat group (n = 30) to be fed on a normal diet and a high-fat diet, respectively, for 10 weeks. Then we measured the concentrations of triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) in the serum using an automatic biochemistry analyzer, detected the apoptosis of testicular germ cells by TUNEL staining, and determined the protein and mRNA expressions of GRP78 and. caspase-12 in the testis tissue by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The concentrations of TG and TC were significantly increased in the animals of the high-fat group ([3.00 ± 0.92] and [3.04 ± 0.39] mmol/L) as compared with the control rats ([1.43 ± 0.41] and [1.55 ± 0.23] mmol/L) (P < 0.01), and so was the apoptosis index of the testicular germ cells ([37.17 ± 2.74]% vs [5.16 ± 0.81]%, P < 0.01). The high-fat group, in comparison with the control, also showed remarkably upregulated protein and mRNA expressions of GRP78 (0.32 ± 0.03 and 0.86 ± 0.05 vs 0.19 ± 0.01 and 0.37 ± 0.03, P < 0.01) and caspase-12 (0.34 ± 0.02 and 0.87 ± 0.01 vs 0.12 ± 0.01 and 0.34 ± 0.03, P < 0.01) in the testis tissue.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The apoptosis of testicular germ cells is increased in hyperlipidemic rats, which may be attributed to endoplasmic reticulum stress.</p>
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Rats , Apoptosis , Physiology , Caspase 12 , Metabolism , Cholesterol , Blood , Diet, High-Fat , Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress , Physiology , Heat-Shock Proteins , Metabolism , In Situ Nick-End Labeling , Random Allocation , Rats, Wistar , Spermatozoa , Pathology , Staining and Labeling , Testis , Metabolism , Transcriptional Activation , Triglycerides , Blood , Up-RegulationABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of diet-induced obesity on the apoptosis of testicular spermatogenic cells in pubertal male rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty healthy male rats were equally and randomly divided into a control and a high-fat group, the former fed on normal diet, while the latter high-fat and high-calorie diet. The testes of the rats were harvested at the end of 10 weeks for detection of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the peripheral blood with the automatic biochemical analyzer. Pathological changes of the testis were observed under the light microscope, the apoptosis of the testicular cells detected by TUNEL, the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins determined by immunohistochemistry, and those of Bcl-2 mRNA and Bax mRNA measured by RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The levels of TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C were significantly higher in the high-fat group (5.17 +/- 0.17, 1.18 +/- 0.09, 1.76 +/- 0.11 and 5.08 +/- 0.18) than in the control (1.38 +/- 0.12, 0.39 +/- 0.05, 0.97 +/- 0.07 and 0.75 +/- 0.06) (P < 0.05), so was the apoptotic index of spermatogenic cells (37.17 +/- 2.74 versus 5.16 +/- 0.81, P < 0.01), and the apoptotic spermatogenic cells were mainly spermatogonia and spermatocytes. The expressions of Bax protein and Bax mRNA were markedly higher in the high-fat group (153.26 +/- 8.74 and 1.08 +/- 0.12) than in the control (101.81 +/- 6.14 and 0.37 +/- 0.04) (P < 0.01), while those of Bcl-2 protein and Bcl-2 mRNA remarkably lower in the former (139.26 +/- 7.21 and 0.46 +/- 0.05) than in the latter (159.37 +/- 8.96 and 1.05 +/- 0.11) (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Diet-induced obesity can increase the apoptosis of spermatogenic cells in the rat testis, which may be associated with the reduced expression of Bcl-2 and elevated expression of Bax.</p>