Protective Roles of Melatonin against Acrylamide-induced Testicular Toxicity in Rats / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ABSTRACT

[Objective] The present study aimed to determine the protective role of Melatonin (MT) against Acrylamide (AA)-induced testicular toxicity and the potential molecular mechanism.[Methods] The animals were randomly divided into three groups,the control group (n =12),the AA group (n =12) and the AA+MT group (n =12).The rats in the AA and AA + MT group were gavaged with AA at a dose of 15 mg/(kg · day) for 4 consecutive weeks.After 3 weeks of AA treatment,MT was intraperitoneally injected 30 minutes before AA treatment at 10 mg/(kg· day) for 1 week in the AA + MT rats.Subsequently,the mitochondrial membrane potential measurement,TUNEL assay,Western blot and electron microscopic techniques were applied in the present study.[Results] The results showed that AA could decrease the testis mitochondrial membrane potential (P ＜ 0.05) which could be recovered by MT (P ＜ 0.05).Moreover,MT induced down-regulation of Bax expression and up-regulation of Bcl-2 expression in the testis,compared with AA rats.The amelioration of testicular apoptosis was further confirmed by the TUNEL labeling.Western blot results suggested that the decreased ratios of Bcl-2/Bax and Bcl-xL/Bak in the AA group (both P ＜ 0.05) could be recovered by MT treatment (both P ＜ 0.05).The levels of Cyt-c,Casp-3,p53 and NF-κB in AA group were markedly elevated compared with the control (all P ＜ 0.05),and reduced in MT treatment group (all P ＜ 0.05).MT could relieve abnormal mitochondrial structures in the seminiferous tubule in the electron microscopic level.[Conclusion] MT may exert productive effect through its anti-apoptotic properties associated with mitochondria.