Er Tze-Kiong, Tsai Eing-Mei, Tsai Li-Yu, Ko Ying-Chin, Lee Jau-Nan
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
J Toxicol Sci. 2006 Feb;31(1):75-82. doi: 10.2131/jts.31.75.
Semen samples were obtained from 30 volunteers who had never consumed betel quid. Swim-up spermatozoa from the 30 seminal samples of non-betel quid chewers and also non-smokers, usually not exposed to passive smoking, were treated in vitro with arecoline at different concentrations to evaluate the action of these drugs on sperm motility. Highly motile sperms were collected and divided into 5 equal fractions. Four fractions were supplemented with various concentrations of arecoline and one as control. The study was carried out at time 0 and +1, +2, +3 and +4 hr of incubation. Sperm cells were also extracted and blotted with COX-2 antibody after arecoline treatment after 4 hr incubation. The sperm motility parameters, i.e., motility, average path velocity, curvilinear velocity, straight-line velocity and linearity, were significantly decreased after arecoline treatment. In vitro, arecoline induces the COX-2 expression of sperm cells in a dose-dependent manner. This is the first report to demonstrate that arecoline may mediate COX-2 expression in human sperms, resulting in inflammation response. This situation may act on the structure responsible for the flagellar motion and cause the reduction of sperm motility.
精液样本取自30名从未食用过槟榔的志愿者。从30名非槟榔咀嚼者且不吸烟（通常也不接触被动吸烟）的精液样本中获取的上游精子，在体外以不同浓度的槟榔碱进行处理，以评估这些药物对精子活力的作用。收集高活力精子并将其分成5等份。其中4份添加不同浓度的槟榔碱，1份作为对照。该研究在孵育的0小时、+1、+2、+3和+4小时进行。在孵育4小时后用槟榔碱处理精子细胞，之后还提取精子细胞并用COX-2抗体进行印迹分析。槟榔碱处理后，精子活力参数，即活力、平均路径速度、曲线速度、直线速度和线性度，均显著降低。在体外，槟榔碱以剂量依赖的方式诱导精子细胞的COX-2表达。这是第一份证明槟榔碱可能介导人类精子中COX-2表达从而引发炎症反应的报告。这种情况可能作用于负责鞭毛运动的结构并导致精子活力降低。
