Effects of Lead on Testicular Cells Apoptosis and Expression of Caspase-3,Bc-2 and Bax Genes in Mouse

To investigate the occurrence of testicular cell apoptosis and the expression of the apoptosis related gene Caspase-3,Bcl-2 and Bax in the adult male mice following lead administration,twenty five adult mice were randomly divided into blank control group(0h) and 12h,24h,36h,48h lead exposed group(five mice in each group) and treated with lead acetate solution(100mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection.The mice were sacrificed at 0h,12h,24h,36h and 48h respectively and testes were isolated.The testes were then fixed and processed for hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical staining to detect cell apoptosis and the level of Caspase-3,Bcl-2 and Bax gene expression.Compared with the control group,the protein level of Bcl-2 was significantly lower(P0.01),whereas the protein levels of Caspase-3 and Bax were significantly higher(P0.01) in experimental groups.The degree of differences was correlated with the time of lead exposure.The testicular apoptotic cell death is highly associated with lead loading and changes in Caspase-3 and Bcl-2/Bax expression may play an important role in this process.