Abstract
Many young adults are in a state of stress due to social and psychological pressures, which may result in male reproductive dysfunction. To provide new insight into this phenomenon, we investigated the effect of stress on the regulation of key genes and biological events in specific stages of spermatogenesis. After establishing rat stress models of different time durations, we observed pathological changes in testis through haematoxylin and eosin staining, and analysed gene expression in testis by RNA-seq, bioinformatic analysis, and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) with the TissueFAXS quantitative imaging system was used to verify changes of different population of spermatogenic cells marked by differentially expressed marker genes. Our results showed that prolonged stress can lead to pathological changes in the testes, such as thinning of the spermatogenic epithelium, a decreased number of spermatogenic epithelial cells, the disordered arrangement of spermatogenic cells, and a decreased number of mature sperms. RNA-seq revealed that key marker spermatogenesis-related genes such as Stra8, Sycp3, Piwil1, and Tnp1 had significantly decreased expression levels in chronic stress groups, and this was confirmed by RT-qPCR and IHC. Collectively, these findings suggest that chronic stress causes damaging pathological changes in testis and dysregulates the marker genes of specific stages of spermatogenesis and change the population of spermatogenic cells, which may be a critical responsible for male reproductive dysfunction.
Highlights
Stress is defined as a real or perceived threat from internal or external adverse stressors to the homeostasis of the body [1]
Using RNA-seq, reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the TissueFAXS quantitative imaging system, our study revealed the hypothesis that chronic stress has an adverse effect on the testicular transcriptome and changes the component of spermatogenic cells, which leads to male reproductive dysfunction
In the 3-day stress group, the testicular morphology was similar to that in the control group; in the 14-day stress group, the seminiferous tubules were irregular in morphology, the spermatogenic epithelium was thinned, the spermatogenic cell density was sparser, the lumen was enlarged, there were fewer sperm cells, and some of the spermatogenic epithelial cells were separated from the basement membrane
Summary
Stress is defined as a real or perceived threat from internal or external adverse stressors to the homeostasis of the body [1]. As acute and chronic stress conditions have become common due to the fast pace of modern life and an increase in the social pressures and competition that people face, Chronic Stress Cause Spermatogenesis Dysregulation reproductive health problems have become a major problem that troubles people of childbearing age [3]. In this context, a biological-psychological-social model of medicine has emerged. The World Health Organization has proposed a new definition of reproductive health: that physical, psychological, and social attributes are in a good condition across all reproductive functions and throughout life
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