Testicular tissue response following a 90-day subchronic exposure to HTP aerosols and cigarette smoke in rats

Hongjuan Wang; Yushan Tian; Yaning Fu; Shuhao Ma; Xiaoxiao Xu; Wenming Wang; Fengjun Lu; Xianmei Li; Pengxia Feng; Shulei Han; Huan Chen; Hongwei Hou; Qingyuan Hu; Chuan Liu

doi:10.1093/toxres/tfad085

Testicular tissue response following a 90-day subchronic exposure to HTP aerosols and cigarette smoke in rats

Toxicol Res (Camb). 2023 Sep 20;12(5):902-912. doi: 10.1093/toxres/tfad085. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Hongjuan Wang^{1

2}, Yushan Tian^{1

2}, Yaning Fu^{1

2}, Shuhao Ma^{1

2}, Xiaoxiao Xu^{1

2}, Wenming Wang^{1

2}, Fengjun Lu^{1

2}, Xianmei Li^{1

2}, Pengxia Feng^{1

2}, Shulei Han^{1

2}, Huan Chen^{1

2}, Hongwei Hou^{1

2}, Qingyuan Hu^{1

2}, Chuan Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Tobacco Biological Effects and Biosynthesis, Beijing Life Science Academy, Yingcai South 1st Street, Beijing 102209, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Tobacco Biological Effects, China National Tobacco Quality Supervision and Test Center, No. 2 Fengyang Street, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.

PMID: 37915495
PMCID: PMC10615803 (available on 2024-09-20)
DOI: 10.1093/toxres/tfad085

Abstract

Background: Researches have shown that chronic inhalation of cigarette smoke (CS) disrupts male reproductive system, but it is unclear about the mechanisms behind reproductive damages by tobacco toxicants in male rats. This study was designed to explore the effects of heated tobacco products (HTP) aerosols and CS exposure on the testicular health of rats.

Materials and methods: Experiments were performed on male SD rats exposed to filtered air, HTP aerosols at 10 μg/L, 23 μg/L, and 50 μg/L nicotine-equivalent contents, and also CS at 23 μg/L nicotine-equivalent content for 90 days in five exposure groups (coded as sham, HTP_10, HTP_23, HTP_50 and Cig_23). The expression of serum testosterone, testicular tissue inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α), reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA), NLRP3 inflammasome-related mRNAs and proteins (NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1), the degree of pyroptosis and histopathology were investigated.

Results: The results demonstrated that HTP_50 and Cig_23 caused varying degrees of oxidative damage to rat testis, resulting in a decrease of sperm quantity and serum testosterone contents, an increase in the deformity rate, expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and NLRP3 inflammasome-related mRNA, and an increase in the NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1-immunopositive cells, pyroptosis cell indices, and histopathological damage in the testes of rats. Responses from the HTP_10 and HTP_23 groups were less than those found in the above two exposure groups.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that HTP_50 and Cig_23 induced oxidative stress in rat testes, induced inflammation and pyroptosis through the ROS/NLRP3/Caspase-1 pathway, and destroyed the integrity of thetesticular tissue structure.

Keywords: NLRP3; cigarette; heated tobacco products (HTPs); inhalation toxicology; testis.