[Effects of Yishen Tongluo Prescription on the PI3K-Akt-MTOR pathway and the protein and mRNA expressions of CatSper-1 and HSPA2 in the testis tissue of oligoasthenospermia rats].

OBJECTIVE

To study the effect of Yishen Tongluo Prescription (YTP) on the testis tissue of the male rats with oligoasthenospermia (OAS) and its action mechanism based on the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway.

METHODS

We randomly divided 48 SPF male SD rats into 8 groups: normal control, OAS model control, L-carnitine (LC), high-dose YTP, low-dose YTP, Omipalisib inhibitor (OI), OI + high-dose YTP, and OI + low-dose YTP, with 6 rats in each group. We established a model of OAS in the latter 7 groups by intragastric administration of tripterygium wilfordii polyside, followed by intervention with corresponding drugs. After treatment, we obtained semen parameters from the rats, observed pathological changes in the testis tissue by HE staining, and determined the expressions of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway-related proteins and mRNA by Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR).

RESULTS

Sperm concentration and total sperm motility were significantly improved in the LC and YTP groups compared with those in the OAS model control group (P < 0.001). HE staining showed irregularly arranged spermatogenic cells and narrowed lumina and widened gaps of seminiferous tubules in the OAS model controls, as well as similar pathological changes in the LC, YTP and OI + YTP groups. Significant up-regulation was observed in the protein expressions of p-Akt, CatSper-1 and HSPA2 in the LC group (P < 0.05), those of p-Akt, mTOR, catsper-1 and HSP2 in the low-dose YTP group (P < 0.05) and that of PI3K in the high-dose YTP group (P < 0.05) compared with those in the model controls. There were no statistically significant differences in the expressions of PI3K, mTOR and catsper-1 between the OI and model control groups (P > 0.05), nor in those of PI3K, p-Akt, mTOR, CatSper-1 and HSPA2 between the OI + YTP and the former two groups (P > 0.05). The mRNA expressions of PI3K, mTOR, CatSper-1 and HSPA2 were remarkably higher in the LC and YTP groups than in the model control (P< 0.05), with those of catsper-1 and PI3K even more significantly up-regulated in the high-dose than in the low-dose YTP group (P< 0.001; P< 0.05). Statistically significant differences were not observed in the mRNA expressions of PI3K, mTOR, CatSper-1 and HSPA2 between the model control and OI groups (P > 0.05), nor in those of PI3K, mTOR, catsper-1 and HSPA2 between the model control and OI + YTP groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Yishen Tongluo Prescription can improve sperm quality and pathological changes of the testis tissue in rats with Tripterygium glycoside-induced OAS, which might be attributed to its ability of up-regulating the expressions of the PI3K Akt mTOR pathway-related proteins and mRNA in the testis tissue.