Tianjin Medical Journal ›› 2023, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (4): 376-381.doi: 10.11958/20221083

• Experimental Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects and mechanism of hyperuricemia on spermatogenesis and sperm quality in mice

JIANG Xiaocui(), TIAN Daizhi, ZHAO Min, GONG Jian, YU He, JIANG Xingyu, XIAO Min()   

  1. Experimental Center of Chinese Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, China
  • Received:2022-07-08 Revised:2022-11-10 Published:2023-04-15 Online:2023-04-20
  • Contact: XIAO Min E-mail:280185855@qq.com;531637551@qq.com

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the mechanism of hyperuricemia (HUA) inducing testicular cell apoptosis and reducing spermatogenesis and sperm quality in mice through oxidative damage. Methods Thirty-six Kunming male mice were divided into 6 groups by random number method: the potassium oxyazinate groups for 1 d, 7 d and 14 d, and the control groups for 1 d, 7 d and 14 d. The potassium oxyazinate group was intraperitoneally injected with potassium oxyazinate suspension 600 mg/(kg·d). Serum levels of uric acid (UA), creatinine (Cre), urea nitrogen (BUN), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), xanthine oxidase (XO), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA) in testicular tissue were detected by biochemical method. Eosin-hematoxylin (HE) staining was used to observe histopathological changes of liver, kidney and testis, and the spermatogenic function of testicular HE sections was scored. Automatic sperm analyzer detected sperm density and motility rate. The expression levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax) and Caspase-3 protein in testicular tissue were detected by Western blotting. Results Compared with the control group, UA was significantly increased in the potassium oxazinate 1 d group (P<0.01). The levels of UA, BUN, AST and XO were significantly increased in the potassium oxazinate 7 d group (P<0.01). The levels of UA, BUN and AST were significantly increased in the potassium oxazinate 14 d group (P<0.01). The pathological changes in liver and kidney tissue were observed in the potassium oxazinate 7 d and 14 d groups, and the lesion was milder in the potassium oxazinate 7 d groug than that of the potassium oxazinate 14 d group. Compared with the control 7 d group, there were obvious pathological changes and significantly decreased spermatogenic function in the potassium oxazinate 7 d group (P<0.01). The content of MDA was significantly increased (P<0.05), while the activities of SOD and CAT were significantly decreased (P<0.05). The protein expression levels of Bax and Caspase-3 were significantly increased (P<0.05), the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 was also increased (P<0.05), and the protein expression level of Bcl-2 was significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion The spermatogenic function and sperm quality are decreased in HUA mice, which may be caused by testicular oxidative damage induced apoptosis.

Key words: hyperuricemia, testis, semen analysis, spermatogenesis, oxidative stress, apoptosis

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