Trehalose can effectively protect sheep epididymis epithelial cells from oxidative stress.

Trehalose, a naturally nontoxic disaccharide that does not exist in mammals, stabilizes cell membrane integrity under oxidative stress conditions, the mechanism of which is still unclear. Here, we analyzed the effects of trehalose on sheep epididymis epithelial cell (EEC) proliferation and its possible mechanisms. To study the effect of trehalose on EECs, EECs were isolated from testes of 12-month-old sheep; cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was used to measure the growth of the cells. Cell proliferation was evaluated by assaying cell cycle and apoptosis, and RT-PCR was utilized to identify the epididymal molecular markers glutathione peroxidase 5 () and androgen receptor (). Next, reactive oxygen species (ROS) content was evaluated by a dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) probe. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were evaluated by enzyme chemistry methods, and expression was evaluated by qRT-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that 100  trehalose significantly improved the proliferation potential of EECs, in which the cells could be serially passaged 14 times with continued normal and marker gene expression in vitro. The trehalose can increase significantly a proportion of EECs in S phase ( ) and decrease significantly the apoptotic rate of EECs ( ) compared to the control. Moreover, the trehalose decreased ROS significantly ( ) and increased CAT ( ) and GSH-Px ( ) activities significantly in EECs. mRNA and protein expression were also significantly upregulated in trehalose-treated EECs ( and respectively). Our study suggested that exogenous trehalose exhibited antioxidant activity through increasing the activities of CAT, GSH-Px, and the expression level of and could be employed to maintain vitality of sheep EECs during long-term in vitro culture.