Fine particulate matter (PM) induces testosterone disruption by triggering ferroptosis through SIRT1/HIF-1α signaling pathway in male mice.

Fine particulate matter (PM), a significant component of air pollution particulate matter, is inevitable and closely associated with increasing male reproductive disorder. However, the testicular targets of PM and its toxicity related molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood. In this study, the conditional knockout (cKO) mice and primary Leydig cells were used to explore the testicular targets of PM and the related underlying mechanisms. First, apparent the structure impairment of seminiferous tubules, Leydig cells vacuolization, decline of serum testosterone and sperm quality reduction were found in male wild-type (WT) and Sirt1 knockout mice after exposure to PM. Enrichment analyses revealed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched in steroid hormone biosynthesis, ferroptosis, and HIF-1 signaling pathway in the mice testes after exposure to PM, which were subsequently verified by the molecular biological analyses. Notably, similar enrichment analyses results were also observed in primary Leydig cells after treatment with PM. In addition, Knockdown of Sirt1 significantly increased PM-induced expression and activation of HIF-1α, which was in parallel to the changes of cellular iron levels, oxidative stress indicators and the ferroptosis markers. In conclusion, this highlights that PM triggers ferroptosis via SIRT1/HIF-1α signaling pathway to inhibit testosterone synthesis in males. These findings provide a novel research support for the study that PM causes male reproductive injury.