Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) is a highly harmful environmental contaminant, which can cause reproductive toxicity. Zinc (Zn) is an essential trance element that may protect the organism from the harmful effects of Cd. However, the mechanism of Zn against Cd-induced reproductive toxicity remained to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of subchronic exposure to Cd on the relative testis weight (RTW), the histopathology, the activity of stress marker antioxidant enzymes, the level of lipid peroxidation of testis, as well as the mitigative effects of Zn on Cd-induced reproductive toxicity in male freshwater crab Sinopotamon henanense. For this purpose, male crabs were divided into 10 groups including a control group (without metals) and metal exposure groups with Cd alone in three concentrations and Cd combined with Zn in six concentrations for 14 days. The results showed that Cd evoked concentration-dependent reproductive toxicity of male Sinopotamon henanense as showed by decreased RTW, appearance of morphological lesions, increased SOD, CAT, GPx activity, and MDA levels. Nevertheless, Zn combined with Cd exposure significantly alleviated Cd-induced reproductive toxicity as proved by increased RTW, reappearance of normal histological morphology, increased SOD activity, recovered CAT and GPx activity, and decreased MDA levels in testis. Our study demonstrated that the application of Zn can mitigate Cd-induced reproductive toxicity by ameliorating the testicular oxidative stress and improving the antioxidant status.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Ermeng Wang, Zigen Lin for helping samples collection, and to Prof. Hans-Uwe Dahms and Prof. Kadarkarai Murugan for their constructive suggestions on the manuscript.
Funding
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31672293), Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (No. 2016-1), and Shanxi Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 201703D221008-3).
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Liu, J., Wang, E., Jing, W. et al. Mitigative effects of zinc on cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity in the male freshwater crab Sinopotamon henanense. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 16282–16292 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08074-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08074-y