Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Liaoning Province, College of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2020 Jul;141:111405. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2020.111405. Epub 2020 May 8.
Zearalenone (ZEA) is a mycotoxin that contaminates crops worldwide and is toxic to the reproductive systems of mammals, however, the toxicological mechanism by which ZEA affects germ cells is not fully understood. In this study, proteomic analysis using iTRAQ technology was adopted to determine the cellular response of Leydig cells of rats to ZEA exposure. The results were used to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the toxicity of the ZEA towards germ cells. After 24 h of exposure to ZEA at a concentration of 30 μmol/L, a total of 128 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified. Of these, 70 DEPs were up-regulated and 58 DEPs were down-regulated. The DEPs associated with ZEA toxicology were then screened by using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. The results show that these DEPs are involved in a number of important ZEA toxicological pathways including apoptosis, immunotoxicity, DNA damage, and signaling pathways. The complex regulatory relationships between the DEPs and ZEA toxicological signaling pathways are also explicitly demonstrated in the form of a protein-protein interaction network. This study thus provides a theoretical molecular basis for understanding the toxicological mechanisms by which ZEA affects germ cells.
玉米赤霉烯酮（ZEA）是一种污染全世界农作物的真菌毒素，对哺乳动物的生殖系统有毒性，但 ZEA 影响生殖细胞的毒理学机制尚不完全清楚。在这项研究中，采用 iTRAQ 技术进行蛋白质组学分析，以确定大鼠睾丸间质细胞对 ZEA 暴露的细胞反应。这些结果用于阐明 ZEA 对生殖细胞毒性的机制。在浓度为 30μmol/L 的 ZEA 暴露 24 小时后，共鉴定出 128 个差异表达蛋白（DEPs）。其中，70 个 DEPs 上调，58 个 DEPs 下调。然后，通过基因本体（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析筛选与 ZEA 毒理学相关的 DEPs。结果表明，这些 DEPs 参与了一些重要的 ZEA 毒理学途径，包括细胞凋亡、免疫毒性、DNA 损伤和信号通路。DEPs 与 ZEA 毒理学信号通路之间的复杂调控关系也通过蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用网络的形式明确展示。因此，这项研究为理解 ZEA 影响生殖细胞的毒理学机制提供了理论分子基础。
