Sun Zhangbei, Wen Yiqian, Zhang Fan, Fu Zhendong, Yuan Yangyang, Kuang Haibin, Kuang Xiaodong, Huang Jian, Zheng Liping, Zhang Dalei
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, PR China.
Clinical Medical Experimental Center of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, PR China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Apr 15;255:114796. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114796. Epub 2023 Mar 20.
Plastic particle pollution poses an emerging threat to ecological and human health. Laboratory animal studies have illustrated that nano-sized plastics can accumulate in the testis and cause testosterone deficiency and spermatogenic impairment. In this study, TM3 mouse Leydig cells were in vitro exposed to polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs, size 20 nm) at dosages of 50, 100 and 150 μg/mL to investigate their cytotoxicity. Our results demonstrated that PS-NPs can be internalized into TM3 Leydig cells and led to a concentration-dependent decline in cell viability. Furthermore, PS-NPs stimulation amplified ROS generation and initiated cellular oxidative stress and apoptosis. Moreover, PS-NPs treatment affected the mitochondrial DNA copy number and collapsed the mitochondrial membrane potential, accompanied by a disrupted energy metabolism. The cells exposed to PS-NPs also displayed a down-regulated expression of steroidogenesis-related genes StAR, P450scc and 17β-HSD, along with a decrease in testosterone secretion. In addition, treatment with PS-NPs destructed plasma membrane integrity, as presented by increase in lactate dehydrogenase release and depolarization of cell membrane potential. In summary, these data indicated that exposure to PS-NPs in vitro produced cytotoxic effect on Leydig cells by inducing oxidative injury, mitochondrial impairment, apoptosis, and cytomembrane destruction. Our results provide new insights into male reproductive toxicity caused by NPs.
塑料颗粒污染对生态和人类健康构成了新出现的威胁。实验动物研究表明，纳米级塑料可在睾丸中蓄积，导致睾酮缺乏和生精功能受损。在本研究中，将TM3小鼠睾丸间质细胞在体外暴露于剂量为50、100和150 μg/mL的聚苯乙烯纳米颗粒（PS-NPs，尺寸20 nm），以研究其细胞毒性。我们的结果表明，PS-NPs可被内化进入TM3睾丸间质细胞，并导致细胞活力呈浓度依赖性下降。此外，PS-NPs刺激会放大活性氧生成，引发细胞氧化应激和凋亡。此外，PS-NPs处理会影响线粒体DNA拷贝数，使线粒体膜电位崩溃，并伴有能量代谢紊乱。暴露于PS-NPs的细胞还表现出类固醇生成相关基因StAR、P450scc和17β-HSD的表达下调，同时睾酮分泌减少。此外，PS-NPs处理破坏了质膜完整性，表现为乳酸脱氢酶释放增加和细胞膜电位去极化。总之，这些数据表明，体外暴露于PS-NPs通过诱导氧化损伤、线粒体损伤、凋亡和细胞膜破坏，对睾丸间质细胞产生细胞毒性作用。我们的结果为纳米颗粒引起的雄性生殖毒性提供了新的见解。
