Antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects of the Attractin gene on Sertoli cells in mice / 中华男科学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effects of Attractin (Atrn) silence on the anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic abilities of TM4 Sertoli cells and its influence on the expressions of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and caspase6 in the cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We observed the apoptotic indexes of TM4 Sertoli cells with normal expression (control), partial deletion, and complete deletion of the Atrn gene (psiRNA-TM4, psiAtrn-TM4, and mu-SC). We determined the mRNA and protein expressions of SOD and caspase6 by Q-PCR and Western blot, measured the SOD activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) contentby spectrophotometry, and detected the apoptotic index of the cells by TUNEL.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with psiRNA-TM4, after inhibition of the Atrn expression, the Sertoli cells in the psiAtrn-TM4 and mu-SCgroups showed significantly decreased expressions ofSOD mRNA (70.76% and 92.58%) and protein (65.11% and 71.0%) (both P < 0.05). The levels of caspase 6 mRNA and protein were increased 5.28 and 3.40 times in the psiAtrn-TM4 and 2.97 and 2.50 times in the mu-SCgroup as compared with the normal control (both P < 0.05). Atrn deletion markedly increased the apoptotic indexes of the cells in the psiAtrn-TM4 and mu-SC groups by 16.22% and 22.03% (P < 0.05) and reduced the activity of SOD by 23.00% and 39.37% (P < 0.05); it also elevated the level of MDA by 155.22% (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The Atrn gene exerts influence on the function of Sertoli cells in multiple ways, in which antioxidative stress and apoptosis regulation may play an important role.</p>