RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of gossypol on the expression of connexin 43 (CX43) in Sertoli cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>TM4 Sertoli cells were cultured and treated with gossypol at the concentrations of 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 micromol/L for 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. The cytotoxicity of gossypol was assessed by CCK-8 assay, and the expression of CX43 in the normal TM4 Sertoli cells and in those treated with different concentrations of gossypol for different times was detected by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Semiquantitative RT-PCR and immunofluorescence analysis showed the expression of CX43 in the normal TM4 cells. At 24 hours of exposure to gossypol, the expression began to decrease gradually with the prolonging of time and the increasing concentration of gossypol (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Gossypol reduces the expression of CX43 in TM4 Sertoli cells, which might underlie the mechanism of its antifertility action.</p>