Department Environmental Studies, Institute of Graduate Studies and Research, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Department of Biochemistry, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Reprod Toxicol. 2020 Dec;98:92-98. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2020.08.014. Epub 2020 Sep 7.
The synthetic food preservative sodium benzoate (SB) is widely used in both food and pharmaceutical industries. A growing body of evidence highlights the adverse effects of SB on human health; however, effect of the prolonged intake of SB on the reproductive system is not fully elucidated. The current study investigates the effect of different doses of SB (0-1000 mg/kg BW) on the reproductive system of male rats administered oral SB for 90 consecutive days. Results revealed that increasing doses of SB significantly altered the weight of reproductive organs, decreased sperm count and motility and enhanced the percentage of abnormal sperms. This was concomitant with significant decline in plasma testosterone and FSH levels, increase in plasma LH and decrease in the activities of 17β-HSD and 17-KSR enzymes in the testes. Inflammation and oxidative stress were induced as indicated by the significant increase in TNF-α and IL-6 levels, inhibition of antioxidant enzymes activity and levels of GSH, increase in the levels of NO and TBARS and enhanced protein expression of mtTFA and UCP2 in the testes. Interestingly, p53 expression and caspase-3 activity were upregulated in the testes suggesting induction of apoptosis. Histopathological examination of the testes confirmed apoptosis and revealed degenerative alterations of the testes' architecture and perturbation of spermatogenesis. Based upon these findings, the no-observed-adverse-effect level of SB on the reproductive system was determined to be less than 1 mg/kg BW/day, highlighting the risks of long-term exposure to low as well as high doses of SB on male reproductive health.
合成食品防腐剂苯甲酸钠（SB）广泛应用于食品和制药行业。越来越多的证据表明 SB 对人类健康有不良影响；然而，SB 对生殖系统的长期摄入影响尚未完全阐明。本研究探讨了不同剂量（0-1000mg/kgBW）的 SB 对雄性大鼠生殖系统的影响，雄性大鼠连续口服 SB 90 天。结果表明，SB 剂量的增加显著改变了生殖器官的重量，降低了精子数量和活力，并增加了异常精子的比例。这伴随着血浆睾酮和 FSH 水平的显著下降，血浆 LH 水平的增加，睾丸中 17β-HSD 和 17-KSR 酶的活性降低。如 TNF-α 和 IL-6 水平的显著增加、抗氧化酶活性和 GSH 水平的抑制、NO 和 TBARS 水平的增加以及 mtTFA 和 UCP2 蛋白表达的增强所表明的那样，炎症和氧化应激被诱导。有趣的是，睾丸中 p53 表达和 caspase-3 活性上调提示细胞凋亡的诱导。睾丸组织学检查证实了凋亡的发生，并显示了睾丸结构的退行性改变和精子发生的紊乱。根据这些发现，确定 SB 对生殖系统的无观察到不良效应水平低于 1mg/kgBW/天，这突显了长期暴露于低剂量和高剂量 SB 对男性生殖健康的风险。
