Apoptosis Induced by Cadmium and the Expression of Caspase-3,Bcl-2 and Bax mRNA in Testis of Mouse

Juvenile (1month old) mice were randomly divided into 6 groups. DNA electrophoresis, immunohistochemistry and semi-quantity RT-PCR methods were used to investigate the proteins and mRNA expression of Caspase-3,Bax and Bcl-2 which were involved in the apoptosis of mouse testis. The results were shown as follows: 1)DNA departed at all the groups except the control. 2)The expression of Caspase-3 protein was up-regulated and the difference with control was significant. The expression of Bax protein was up-regulated in the 3 h, 6 h and 12 h groups and down-regulated in 18 h, 24 h groups. The expression of Bcl-2 protein was down-regulated at all the groups. 3)The result of RT-PCR showed that, Caspase-3 gene was slightly down-regulated, Bax gene was obviously up-regulated, but the Bcl-2 expression was greatly fluctuant. It was shown that Caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2 gene maybe involved in the mouse testis apoptosis which induced by cadmium.