Department of Radiation Medicine, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
Toxicology. 2010 Sep 30;276(1):58-63. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2010.07.003. Epub 2010 Jul 13.
The blood-testis barrier (BTB) plays an important role in male reproductive system. Lots of environmental stimulations can increase the permeability of BTB and then result in antisperm antibody (AsAb) generation, which is a key step in male immune infertility. Here we reported the results of male mice exposed to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) by measuring the expression of tight-junction-associated proteins (ZO-1 and Occludin), vimentin microfilaments, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta3) as well as AsAb level in serum. Male BALB/c mice were sham exposed or exposed to EMP at two different intensities (200kV/m and 400kV/m) for 200 pulses. The testes were collected at different time points after EMP exposure. Immunofluorescence histocytochemistry, western blotting, laser confocal microscopy and RT-PCR were used in this study. Compared with sham group, the expression of ZO-1 and TGF-beta3 significantly decreased accompanied with unevenly stained vimentin microfilaments and increased serum AsAb levels in EMP-exposed mice. These results suggest a potential BTB injury and immune infertility in male mice exposed to a certain intensity of EMP.
血睾屏障（BTB）在男性生殖系统中起着重要作用。许多环境刺激会增加 BTB 的通透性，进而导致抗精子抗体（AsAb）的产生，这是男性免疫性不育的关键步骤。在这里，我们通过测量紧密连接相关蛋白（ZO-1 和 Occludin）、波形蛋白微丝和转化生长因子-β（TGF-β3）的表达以及血清中 AsAb 水平，报告了雄性小鼠暴露于电磁脉冲（EMP）的结果。雄性 BALB/c 小鼠接受假暴露或在两种不同强度（200kV/m 和 400kV/m）下暴露于 200 个脉冲。在 EMP 暴露后不同时间点采集睾丸。本研究采用免疫荧光细胞化学、Western blot、激光共聚焦显微镜和 RT-PCR 方法。与假暴露组相比，暴露于 EMP 的小鼠中 ZO-1 和 TGF-β3 的表达明显降低，同时波形蛋白微丝染色不均匀，血清 AsAb 水平升高。这些结果表明，雄性小鼠暴露于一定强度的 EMP 后，BTB 可能受到损伤，导致免疫性不育。
