Jana Kuladip, Dutta Ananya, Chakraborty Pratip, Manna Indranil, Firdaus Syed Benazir, Bandyopadhyay Debasish, Chattopadhyay Ratna, Chakravarty Baidyanath
Division of Molecular Medicine, Bose Institute, Calcutta Improvement Trust Scheme VIIM, Kolkata, India.
Mol Reprod Dev. 2014 Sep;81(9):833-50. doi: 10.1002/mrd.22354. Epub 2014 Aug 7.
Prolonged and strenuous exercise has been proposed as a possible source of male-factor infertility. Forced intensive swimming has also been identified as one source of a dysfunctional male reproduction system. The present study evaluated the possible protective role of α-lipoic acid and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on intensive swimming-induced germ-cell depletion in adult male rats. Forced exhaustive swimming of 1 hr/day, 6 days/week for 8 consecutive weeks resulted in a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in epididymal sperm; testicular androgenic enzyme activities; and plasma and intra-testicular testosterone; and produced different types of germ cells in the seminiferous epithelium cycle. Conversely, plasma corticosterone levels and sperm-head abnormalities increased. Western-blot analysis showed a considerable decrease in testicular StAR protein expression whereas reverse-transcriptase PCR analysis showed no significant change in cytochrome P450scc (Cyp11a1) gene expression. Significant (P < 0.05) elevation in testicular reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, protein carbonyl content versus reduction in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, and caspase-3 activities along with a depletion in the glutathione pool, mitochondrial membrane potential (▵ψm ), and intracellular ATP generation. A considerable level of DNA damage in testicular spermatogenic cells were also noted following forced extensive swimming. Alpha-lipoic acid and NAC supplementation prevented the swimming-induced testicular spermatogenic and steroidogenic disorders by lowering ROS generation. We therefore conclude that intensive forced swimming causes germ-cell depletion through the generation of ROS and depletion of steroidogenesis in the testis, which can be protected by the co-administration of α-lipoic acid and NAC.
长时间剧烈运动被认为是男性因素不育的一个可能原因。强迫性高强度游泳也被确定为男性生殖系统功能障碍的一个原因。本研究评估了α-硫辛酸和N-乙酰半胱氨酸（NAC）对成年雄性大鼠高强度游泳诱导的生殖细胞耗竭的可能保护作用。每天强迫进行1小时、每周6天、连续8周的 exhaustive游泳导致附睾精子、睾丸雄激素酶活性、血浆和睾丸内睾酮显著（P<0.05）降低，并在生精上皮周期中产生不同类型的生殖细胞。相反，血浆皮质酮水平和精子头部异常增加。蛋白质免疫印迹分析显示睾丸StAR蛋白表达显著降低，而逆转录酶PCR分析显示细胞色素P450scc（Cyp11a1）基因表达无显著变化。睾丸活性氧（ROS）、脂质过氧化、蛋白质羰基含量显著（P<0.05）升高，而葡萄糖-6-磷酸脱氢酶、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶、谷胱甘肽S-转移酶和半胱天冬酶-3活性降低，同时谷胱甘肽池、线粒体膜电位（▵ψm）和细胞内ATP生成减少。强迫长时间游泳后，睾丸生精细胞中也观察到相当程度的DNA损伤。补充α-硫辛酸和NAC可通过降低ROS生成来预防游泳诱导的睾丸生精和类固醇生成障碍。因此，我们得出结论，高强度强迫游泳通过在睾丸中产生ROS和类固醇生成耗竭导致生殖细胞耗竭，α-硫辛酸和NAC联合给药可对此起到保护作用。
