Department of Biotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar 845401, India.
Department of Zoology, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram 796004, India.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2024 Oct;243:106576. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2024.106576. Epub 2024 Jul 8.
Heat stress has been shown to have a detrimental impact on testicular activity and spermatogenesis. Ellagic acid is a plant-derived organic compound that has a variety of biological functions. Thus, it is believed that ellagic acid may improve heat-stressed testicular dysfunction. There has been no research on the impact of ellagic acid on heat-stressed testicular dysfunction. The mice were divided into 4 groups. The first group was the normal control group (CN), and the second received heat stress (HS) by submerging the lower body for 15 min in a water bath with a thermostatically controlled temperature kept at 43°C (HS), and the third and fourth groups were subjected to heat-stress similar to group two and given two different dosages of ellagic acid (5 mg/kg (EH5) and 50 mg/kg (EH50) for 14 days. Ellagic acid at a dose of 50 mg/kg improved the level of circulating testosterone (increased 3βHSD) and decreases the oxidative stress. The testicular and epididymal architecture along with sperm parameters also showed improvement. Ellagic acid treatment significantly increases the germ cell proliferation (GCNA, BrdU staining) and Bcl2 expression and decreases active caspase 3 expression. Heat stress downregulated the expression of AR, ER-α and ER-β, and treatment with ellagic acid increased the expression of ER-α and ER-β markers in the 50 mg/kg treatment group. Thus, our finding suggests that ellagic acid ameliorates heat-induced testicular impairment through modulating testosterone synthesis, germ cell proliferation, and oxidative stress. These effects could be manifested by regulating androgen and estrogen receptors. However, the two doses showed differential effects of some parameters, which require further investigation.
热应激已被证明对睾丸活动和精子发生有不利影响。鞣花酸是一种植物来源的有机化合物，具有多种生物学功能。因此，人们认为鞣花酸可能改善热应激引起的睾丸功能障碍。目前还没有关于鞣花酸对热应激引起的睾丸功能障碍影响的研究。将小鼠分为 4 组。第一组为正常对照组（CN），第二组通过将下半身在 43°C 的恒温水浴中浸泡 15 分钟来接受热应激（HS），第三组和第四组与第二组类似地接受热应激并给予两种不同剂量的鞣花酸（5mg/kg（EH5）和 50mg/kg（EH50），持续 14 天。鞣花酸 50mg/kg 剂量可提高循环睾酮水平（增加 3βHSD）并降低氧化应激。睾丸和附睾结构以及精子参数也有所改善。鞣花酸处理显著增加生殖细胞增殖（GCNA、BrdU 染色）和 Bcl2 表达，并降低活性 caspase 3 表达。热应激下调 AR、ER-α 和 ER-β 的表达，鞣花酸处理增加了 50mg/kg 处理组中 ER-α 和 ER-β 标志物的表达。因此，我们的研究结果表明，鞣花酸通过调节睾酮合成、生殖细胞增殖和氧化应激来改善热诱导的睾丸损伤。这些作用可能通过调节雄激素和雌激素受体来体现。然而，两种剂量对一些参数表现出不同的影响，这需要进一步研究。
