Li Juan, Lin Fan-Hong, Zhu Xiao-Mei, Lv Zheng-Mei
Department of Histology and Embryology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Andrologia. 2020 Dec;52(11):e13889. doi: 10.1111/and.13889. Epub 2020 Oct 30.
Blood glucose dysregulation and hyperglycaemia caused by diabetes mellitus are intimately associated with male infertility. Two-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats were given a single dose of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection to induce type I diabetes mellitus (DM group). The treatment group was given 1 unit/day of insulin for 16 weeks (INS group). The normal control group (NC group) was given food ad libitum. In the DM group, the histological analysis of caput and cauda epididymal ducts showed broken stereocilia and more lipid vacuolisations in the principal cells. The interstitial hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration were observed in epididymal tissues. Transmission electron microscopy observation showed that the principal cells in the DM group contained more vacuoles, partly lost stereocilia, and swollen mitochondria. The autophagosomes were observed as well. Western blotting results of LC3II/I and P62 protein expression indicated that autophagy was downregulated in the DM group. The total antioxidant activity and GPx5 expression of epididymal tissues were also decreased. In the INS group, significant improvements were observed in epididymal tissues. Our study suggests that diabetic hyperglycaemia causes autophagy dysregulation in epididymal tissues, which may play a role in diabetes-induced rat epididymal injury. Insulin treatment is beneficial for diabetic-associated epididymal dysfunction.
糖尿病引起的血糖调节异常和高血糖与男性不育密切相关。对2月龄的Sprague-Dawley大鼠腹腔注射单剂量链脲佐菌素（55 mg/kg）以诱导I型糖尿病（糖尿病组）。治疗组给予1单位/天的胰岛素，持续16周（胰岛素组）。正常对照组（NC组）自由进食。在糖尿病组中，附睾头和附睾尾导管的组织学分析显示，主细胞中的静纤毛断裂，脂质空泡增多。在附睾组织中观察到间质增生和炎性细胞浸润。透射电子显微镜观察显示，糖尿病组的主细胞含有更多空泡，部分静纤毛丢失，线粒体肿胀。还观察到自噬体。LC3II/I和P62蛋白表达的蛋白质印迹结果表明，糖尿病组的自噬下调。附睾组织的总抗氧化活性和GPx5表达也降低。在胰岛素组中，附睾组织有显著改善。我们的研究表明，糖尿病高血糖会导致附睾组织自噬失调，这可能在糖尿病诱导的大鼠附睾损伤中起作用。胰岛素治疗对糖尿病相关的附睾功能障碍有益。
