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Testis Toxicants: Lesson from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

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Molecular Mechanisms in Spermatogenesis

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1381))

Abstract

The testis is one of the organs in the mammalian body that is sensitive to toxicants. Accumulating evidence has shown that human exposure to toxic ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as triptolide, gossypol, cannabidol, piperine, α-solanine, matrine, aristolochic acid, and emodin, lead to testis injury and reproductive dysfunction. The most obvious phenotype is reduced sperm counts due to defects in spermatogenesis. Studies have also shown that Sertoli cells in the seminiferous tubule, the functional unit of the testis that supports spermatogenesis, are the cell type that is most sensitive to the disruptive effects of toxicants. Since Sertoli cells are the “mother cells” that nurture germ cell development, Sertoli cell injury thus leads to failure in germ cell development in the seminiferous epithelium. Mounting evidence has shown that the Sertoli cell cytoskeletons, mitochondria function, Leydig cells steroidogenesis pathways and sperm ion channels are some of the prime targets of toxicants from TCM. We carefully evaluate recent findings in this area of research herein, and to provide a summary of these findings, including some insightful information regarding the underlying molecular basis of toxicant-induced testis injury that impede spermatogenesis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a grant from the Wenzhou Medical University (Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China) to C.Y.C.; L.W. was supported by a China Pharmaceutical University World Explorer Study Abroad Scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Drug Screening, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China

    Ming Yan & Lingling Wang

  2. The Mary M. Wohlford Laboratory for Male Contraceptive Research, Center for Biomedical Research, New York, NY, USA

    Lingling Wang & C. Yan Cheng

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  1. Ming Yan
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Correspondence to C. Yan Cheng .

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  1. Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (SRRSH), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    C.Yan Cheng

  2. Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (SRRSH), Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Fei Sun

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Yan, M., Wang, L., Cheng, C.Y. (2021). Testis Toxicants: Lesson from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In: Cheng, C., Sun, F. (eds) Molecular Mechanisms in Spermatogenesis. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1381. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77779-1_15

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