The Effects of Arsenic on Apoptosis and Bcl-2/Bax Expression of Rat Spermatogenic Cells

Objective:To investigate the occurrence of spermatogenic cells apoptosis and the expression of Bcl-2/Bax after aniso-doses arsenic(As2O3)administration in the testis of the adult male rats.Methods:40 healthy male Sprague-Dawle rats were divided randomly into four groups and they were administered respectively with 0(control group),0.375,0.75,1.5 mg.kg-1 body weight of As2O3 by intragastric administration consecutively for 16 weeks.The apoptosis of spermatogenic cells were assessed by in situ terminal deoxynucleotityl transferase mediated dTUP nick end labeling(TUNEL)technique.The expression of Bcl-2/Bax in spermatogenic cells of different grades were located and quantitated by method of immunohistochemistry.Results:①In the testis of As2O3-treated rats,the apoptosis index of spermatogenic cells(AI)significantly increased compared with that in the control group(P0.01);Bcl-2 expression of middle dose group and high dose group decreased significantly compared with that in the control group(P0.01),Bax expression of middle dose group and high dose group increased significantly compared with that in the control group(P0.01);②The dependability analysis between DSP and AI showed a negative correlation(r =-0.563,P0.01).③The negative correlation was significant between AI and Bcl-2 expression of spermatogenic cells(r =-0.825,P0.01);The positive correlation was significant between AI and Bax expression of spermatogenic cells(r=0.710,P0.01).Conclusions:One mechanisms of male reproduction toxicity of As2O3 might be that Bcl-2 expression is inhibited and Bax expression is encouraged,which induces decrease of quantity of sperm cells