Abstract
Sheng Jing Decoction (SJD), as a traditional Chinese medicine prescription, is mainly be used to treat male infertility. However, the pharmacological functions and molecular mechanisms of SJD are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the functions of SJD on spermatogenesis and sperm motility and explored the potential mechanisms involved. Here, we demonstrated that high, medium, and low doses of SJD are effective in restoring the impairments of the whole body and testicular tissue by cyclophosphamide inducing and to rescue the damage of testicular tissue cells including Sertoli cells and germ cells. SJD can partly restore the decrease in sperm concentration, sperm vitality, sperm motility, and normal sperm morphology rate in oligozoospermic mouse models. Ki67 staining analyses confirm SJD can promote testicular tissue cell proliferation. Real-time RT-PCR analyses also reveal that SJD can upregulate the expression of proliferation-associated gene Lin28a and differentiation-associated genes Kit, Sohlh2, and Stra8. SJD can also reduce the impairment of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and sperm plasma membrane integrity by cyclophosphamide inducing. Our results reveal that SJD is effective in improving both sperm quantity and quality by increasing the sperm concentration, sperm vitality, sperm motility, and normal sperm morphology rate. SJD can promote spermatogenesis by upregulating the expression of the proliferation-associated gene Lin28a and the differentiation-associated genes (Kit, Sohlh2, and Stra8). SJD can sustain MMP and sperm plasma membrane integrity to increase sperm motility.
Highlights
Infertility is defined by the World Health Organization as a disorder of the reproductive system, characterized by failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after ≥12 months of regular unprotected intercourse [1]
We found that Sheng Jing Decoction (SJD) can increase the sperm concentration, sperm vitality, sperm motility, and normal sperm morphology rate
Treatment for 35 days. e high, medium, and low doses of SJD can all speed up the recovery from weight loss of the whole body by cyclophosphamide inducing (Figure 1(a))
Summary
Infertility is defined by the World Health Organization as a disorder of the reproductive system, characterized by failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after ≥12 months of regular unprotected intercourse [1]. Male infertility normally refers a male’s inability to cause pregnancy in a fertile female partner. E four major aetiological categories of male infertility are spermatogenic quantitative defects, ductal obstruction or dysfunction, hypothalamic-pituitary axis disturbances, and spermatogenic qualitative defects [5]. E spermatogenesis disorder caused by genetic and nongenetic factors contributes to spermatogenic quantitative and qualitative defects [6]. During spermatogonial differentiation, upregulated genes are associated with differentiation such as Sohlh1 [18], Sohlh2 [19], Stra8 [20], Kit [21], Ccnd2 [22], and Sall4 [23] to Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine promote SSCs to differentiate into mature haploid spermatozoa. Evidence-based data are limited in the empirical use of drugs for the disorder of spermatogenesis, and some drugs have obvious side effects
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