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Cypermethrin exposure during puberty disrupts testosterone synthesis via downregulating StAR in mouse testes

  • Organ Toxicity and Mechanisms
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An Erratum to this article was published on 12 December 2009

Abstract

Cypermethrin is a widely used synthetic pyrethroid insecticide. Previous studies showed that cypermethrin significantly decreased the fertility and reduced the number of implantation sites and viable fetuses in females impregnated by males exposed to cypermethrin. As yet, little is known about the mechanism of cypermethrin-induced reproductive toxicity. In the present study, we investigated the effects of cypermethrin exposure during puberty on steroidogenesis in mice. Young male mice were administered with cypermethrin (25 mg/kg) by gavage daily from postnatal day (PND) 35 to PND70. Results showed that the level of serum and testicular testosterone (T) was markedly decreased in cypermethrin-treated mice. Additional experiment showed that cypermethrin exposure during puberty markedly downregulated mRNA level of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) in testes. Correspondingly, protein level of testicular StAR was significantly decreased in cypermethrin-treated mice. Cypermethrin exposure during puberty did not affect the number of Leydig cells in testes. Although cypermethrin exposure during puberty did not affect the weight of testes and epididymides, the number of sperm in the cauda epididymides was significantly decreased in cypermethrin-treated mice. Taken together, these results indicate that cypermethrin exposure during puberty significantly disrupts T synthesis via downregulating the expression of testicular StAR. The decreased T synthesis might be associated with cypermethrin-induced impairment in spermatogenesis in mice.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (30671786) and the Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (208060).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Toxicology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China

    Hua Wang, Qun Wang, Xian-Feng Zhao, Ping Liu, Xiu-Hong Meng, Tao Yu, Yan-Li Ji, Heng Zhang, Cheng Zhang, Ying Zhang & De-Xiang Xu

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  1. Hua Wang
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  2. Qun Wang
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Correspondence to De-Xiang Xu.

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Hua Wang, Qun Wang and Xian-Feng Zhao are contributed equally to this work.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00204-009-0502-3

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Wang, H., Wang, Q., Zhao, XF. et al. Cypermethrin exposure during puberty disrupts testosterone synthesis via downregulating StAR in mouse testes. Arch Toxicol 84, 53–61 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-009-0479-y

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