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Fluoride-induced apoptosis and gene expression profiling in mice sperm in vivo

  • Reproductive Toxicology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Exposure to fluoride can induce low sperm quality; however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which fluoride exerts its toxic effects. This study was conducted to evaluate ultrastructure, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in sperm of mice treated with 150 mg/l NaF for 49 days. Furthermore, microarray analysis was also utilized to characterize the effects of fluoride in gene expression profiling on mice sperm. An increased ROS and a decreased TAC accompanied with distinct morphological changes and significant apoptosis were observed in mice sperm from the fluoride group. Fluoride exposure also significantly elevated the protein expressions of cytochrome c and active caspase-3. In global gene expression profiling, 34 up-regulated and 63 down-regulated genes, which are involved in several sperm biological processes including signal transduction, oxidative stress, apoptosis, electron transport, glycolysis, chemotaxis, spermatogenesis, and sperm capacitation, were significantly differentially expressed. Based on these findings, it was proposed that oxidative stress induced by excessive ROS may trigger sperm apoptosis through mitochondrial impairment, resulting in decreased fertility in mice exposed to fluoride. Microarray analysis also provided several important biological clues for further investigating fluoride-induced damage in sperm morphology and functions.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China National Natural Science Foundation (30871899 and 31072180), the Program for Ministry of Agriculture (2009-Z47), the Shanxi Province Science and Technology Bureau Program (20090311036), and start-up fund from the Shanxi Agricultural University (XB2009015).

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanxi Key Laboratory of Ecological Animal Science and Environmental Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, 030801, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Zilong Sun, Ruiyan Niu, Bin Wang, Jinming Wang, Jianhai Zhang & Jundong Wang

  2. Center for Molecular Systems Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Zhibin Jiao

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22911, USA

    Shaolin Wang

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  1. Zilong Sun
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  2. Ruiyan Niu
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Correspondence to Jundong Wang.

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Sun, Z., Niu, R., Wang, B. et al. Fluoride-induced apoptosis and gene expression profiling in mice sperm in vivo. Arch Toxicol 85, 1441–1452 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-011-0672-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-011-0672-7

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