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Effects of Selenium Nanoparticles on Reproductive Performance of Male Sprague-Dawley Rats at Supranutritional and Nonlethal Levels

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Abstract

This research investigated the influence of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) on the reproductive performance of male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. A suspension of SeNPs was consecutively administered by oral gavage for 2 weeks at supranutritional (0.2, 0.4, or 0.8 mg Se/kg bw) and nonlethal (2.0, 4.0, or 8.0 mg Se/kg bw) levels to male SD rats. The normal control (NC) rats were exposed to physiological saline alone. Biochemical parameters, sperm motility, gene expression of GPx1 and GPx4, and histopathological evaluation of male spermary were measured in this work. The supranutritional doses could promote the sperm motility (P < 0.001) and movement parameters (P < 0.05). The nonlethal levels of 4.0 and 8.0 mg Se/kg bw reduced the testis weight (P < 0.001), sperm concentration, and motility (P < 0.05), and also caused histopathological injury of testis and epididymis tissues to various degrees. The content of testosterone in serum was increased in the 0.8 group (P < 0.05) and decreased in the 4.0 (P < 0.01) and 8.0 mg Se/kg bw groups (P < 0.001), respectively. No significant effects were observed on antioxidant enzyme activities and mRNA concentration of GPx in the supranutritional dose group, and nonlethal levels were also not observed. In conclusion, SeNPs in the supranutritional dose has a positive effect on the reproductive function of male SD rats and has damaging effect higher than 4.0 mg Se/kg bw.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National “Twelfth Five Year” Program for Science and Technology Support (2012BAD39B01) and the Program for Zhejiang Leading Team of S&T Innovation (2011R50025-04).

Authors’ Contributions

The main work in this research including most experiments as well as manuscript writing was done by LL and YH. Blood biochemical parameters were performed by ZX and WT. Histopathological sections of rat testicle were done by JZ, BW, and ZL. LL and ZX conducted the statistical analysis. YH and LL conducted the manuscript revision. Prof. MW is in charge of the whole project and manuscript revision. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Lujie Liu, Zhiping Xiao, Wenjing Tao, Jia Zhu, Bin Wang, Zixun Liu & Minqi Wang

  2. Department of Animal Science, Jiangxi Biotech Vocational College, 608 Nanlian Road, Nanchang, 330200, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Yudan He

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  1. Lujie Liu
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  2. Yudan He
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  8. Minqi Wang
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Correspondence to Minqi Wang.

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Ethics statement

All animal experiments were approved by the Zhejiang University Animal Research Ethics Board and were done in accordance with the guidelines of the China Council for Animal Care.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Lujie Liu and Yudan He contributed equally to this work.

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Liu, L., He, Y., Xiao, Z. et al. Effects of Selenium Nanoparticles on Reproductive Performance of Male Sprague-Dawley Rats at Supranutritional and Nonlethal Levels. Biol Trace Elem Res 180, 81–89 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-017-0980-8

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