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Reproductive toxicity investigation of silica nanoparticles in male pubertal mice

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Abstract

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs), one of the most produced nanoparticles (NPs) in the world, are used in all aspects of life. The increased application of SiNPs, especially in medicine, has raised considerable concern regarding their toxicological impact. Previous studies have shown that SiNPs can pass through the reproductive barrier and cause reproductive organ dysfunction by destroying Sertoli cells, Leydig cells, and germ cells. However, little is known about the mechanism of SiNPs-induced reproductive toxicity. In the present study, 5-week-old male mice were intraperitoneally administered SiNPs per day for 1 week at a dose of 0.2 mg per mouse. The results showed that SiNPs could cause damage to the structure of the testis and the epididymis and change the reproductive organ coefficients, leading to decreases of 56.1% and 55.3% in the rates of sperm concentration and motility and an increase of 168.8% in the rate of sperm abnormality. Moreover, the serum testosterone level obviously decreased from 18.77 to 5.23 µg/ml after exposure, and the transcription statuses of some key genes involved in the synthesis and transport of testosterone in the testis were also affected. Additional experiments showed that SiNPs exposure during puberty induced oxidative stress and an inflammatory response, as shown by the changed activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), increased contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), and excess expression of proinflammatory factors, including TNF-α and IL-1β. Furthermore, the administration of SiNPs caused DNA damage and cell apoptosis, which were presented by the increased apoptotic cells in the sections of testis and epididymis and activation of the TNF-α/TNFR I-mediated pro-apoptotic pathway. In conclusion, these results indicate that SiNPs exposure during puberty significantly damaged the structure and function of the testis and epididymis by inducing oxidative stress and cell apoptosis. This study provides novel insight into SiNPs-induced reproductive toxicity during puberty, which warrants a more careful assessment of SiNPs before their application in juvenile supplies.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Fang Yang and Hong Xu for the technical assistance in western blot technique, Heliang Liu and Xiaohui Hao for the generous contribution of antibodies, and many of our colleagues for providing valuable advices on the experiments and manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (no. C2021209004), the grants from the Tangshan Science and Technology Bureau (no. 20130212b), the grants from the Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (no. JQN2020002), the grants from the Department of Health of Hebei Province (no. 20210049), and the grants from the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project of North China University of Science and Technology (no. X2020085).

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Author notes

  1. Fanli Sun and Xuying Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei, 063210, People’s Republic of China

    Fanli Sun, Ziyun Chen, Zhiyi Guo & Xuan Shang

  2. School of Basic Medical Sciences, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, Hebei, 063210, People’s Republic of China

    Xuying Wang, Pinzheng Zhang & Zhiyi Guo

  3. Hebei Key Laboratory for Chronic Diseases, Tangshan, People’s Republic of China

    Xuying Wang, Pinzheng Zhang & Zhiyi Guo

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  1. Fanli Sun
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  2. Xuying Wang
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  3. Pinzheng Zhang
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  4. Ziyun Chen
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  5. Zhiyi Guo
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  6. Xuan Shang
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Contributions

XS and FS conceived and designed the study; XS, FS, XW, ZC, and PZ performed experiments and interpreted data; XS and ZG drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Xuan Shang.

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All animal experiments were reviewed and approved by the Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of North China University of Science and Technology.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Sun, F., Wang, X., Zhang, P. et al. Reproductive toxicity investigation of silica nanoparticles in male pubertal mice. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 36640–36654 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18215-6

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