Abstract
Environmental chemicals can be introduced by consuming contaminated foods. The environmental chemical dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), a persistent metabolite of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), can affect spermatogenesis. Our study aims to evaluate, by using spectrophotometric analyses, western blot, and immunohistochemistry, the adaptive responses in testis of adult rats treated with a non-toxic dose of DDE, alone or in association with a high-fat diet (HFD). Four experimental groups were performed: N (normal diet); D (HFD); D + DDE (HFD + DDE); N + DDE (normal diet + DDE). D group showed a reduction in antioxidant capacity, and increases in lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, and proliferation associated with morphological impairment. A reduction in androgen receptor (AR) and serum testosterone levels were also found. DDE-treated groups exhibited higher lipid peroxidation levels compared to N and D, associated with pronounced defect in antioxidant capacity, apoptosis, cellular proliferation, as well as with tissue damage. Moreover, decreases in AR and serum testosterone levels were found in DDE-treated groups vs. N and D. In conclusion, HFD and DDE produced cellular stress leading to antioxidant impairment, apoptosis, and decreases in AR and serum testosterone levels associated with tissue damage. Cellular proliferation could be used as an adaptation to counterbalance the occurred damage, maintaining a pool of tubules that follow physiological maturation.
Highlights
In the last few decades, experimental proof and data analysis of scientific studies have correlated male infertility both with environmental pollution and nutritional choices [1,2]
DDT is a synthetic insecticide belonging to the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), environmental pollutants widely utilized in the past years in various industrial and commercial applications
In D group, some tubules presented vacuolization and empty areas in the seminiferous epithelium (Figure 7, panels 1–2) and the presence of some eosinophilic cells. In both DDE-treated groups, the lumina were filled with discharged cells that were prevalently constituted by round spermatids in E stages (Figure 7, panel 1, D + DDE and N + DDE), whereas we found spermatocytes in L stages along with round spermatids
Summary
In the last few decades, experimental proof and data analysis of scientific studies have correlated male infertility both with environmental pollution and nutritional choices [1,2]. Many studies demonstrated that these environmental contaminants used in the last few decades alter the male reproductive system by functioning as antiandrogenic compounds, leading, in the most serious cases, to male infertility [11,12,13,14,15]. These hydrophobic substances can accumulate in the environmental matrix and undergo bioaccumulation and biomagnification phenomena in the food chain [16], in animal fat tissue.
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