Ma Dongxue, Han Pengfei, Song Mingji, Zhang Hongfu, Shen Wei, Huang Guian, Zhao Minghui, Sun Qingyuan, Zhao Yong, Min Lingjiang
College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
College of Life Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2021 Feb 15;12:593953. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.593953. eCollection 2021.
β-carotene, precursor of vitamin A, is an excellent antioxidant with many beneficial properties. It is a lipid-soluble antioxidant and a very effective quencher of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to reduce the oxidative stress. In contrast to vitamin A, β-carotene is not toxic even consumed in higher amount when it is delivered from natural plant products. Recently, we found that β-carotene acts as a potential antioxidant in the oocyte to improve its quality. Even though many studies have been reported that β-carotene has the beneficial contribution to the ovarian development and steroidogenesis, it is unknown the effects of β-carotene on the spermatogenesis. This investigation aimed to explore the hypothesis that β-carotene could improve spermatogenesis and the underlying mechanism. And we found that β-carotene rescued busulfan disrupted spermatogenesis in mouse with the increase in the sperm concentration and motility. β-carotene improved the expression of genes/proteins important for spermatogenesis, such as VASA, DAZL, SYCP3, PGK2. Moreover, β-carotene elevated the testicular antioxidant capability by the elevation of the antioxidant glutathione and antioxidant enzymes SOD, GPX1, catalase levels. In conclusion, β-carotene may be applied for the infertile couples by the improvement of spermatogenesis, since, worldly many couples are infertile due to the idiopathic failed gametogenesis (spermatogenesis).
β-胡萝卜素是维生素A的前体，是一种具有多种有益特性的优秀抗氧化剂。它是一种脂溶性抗氧化剂，是一种非常有效的活性氧（ROS）猝灭剂，可降低氧化应激。与维生素A不同，当从天然植物产品中摄取时，即使大量食用β-胡萝卜素也无毒。最近，我们发现β-胡萝卜素在卵母细胞中作为一种潜在的抗氧化剂发挥作用，以提高其质量。尽管已有许多研究报道β-胡萝卜素对卵巢发育和类固醇生成有有益作用，但β-胡萝卜素对精子发生的影响尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨β-胡萝卜素可改善精子发生及其潜在机制的假设。我们发现β-胡萝卜素可挽救白消安破坏的小鼠精子发生，精子浓度和活力增加。β-胡萝卜素改善了对精子发生重要的基因/蛋白质的表达，如VASA、DAZL、SYCP3、PGK2。此外，β-胡萝卜素通过提高抗氧化剂谷胱甘肽和抗氧化酶SOD、GPX1、过氧化氢酶水平来提高睾丸的抗氧化能力。总之，β-胡萝卜素可能通过改善精子发生应用于不育夫妇，因为世界上许多夫妇因特发性配子发生失败（精子发生）而不育。
