Differential proteome and gene expression reveal response to carbon ion irradiation in pubertal mice testes

Heavy ion radiation, a high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation, has been shown to have adverse effects on reproduction in male mice. The aim of this study was to profile and investigate the differentially expressed proteins in pubertal male mice testes following carbon ion radiation (CIR). Male mice underwent whole-body irradiation with CIR (1 and 4 Gy), and MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis was used to investigate the alteration in protein expression in 2-DE (two-dimensional gel electrophoresis) gels of testes caused by irradiation after 14 days. 8 differentially expressed proteins were identified and these proteins were mainly involved in energy supply, the endoplasmic reticulum, cell proliferation, cell cycle, antioxidant capacity and mitochondrial respiration, which play important roles in the inhibition of testicular function in response to CIR. Furthermore, we confirmed the relationship between transcription of mRNA and the abundance of proteins. Our results indicated that these proteins may lead to new insights into the molecular mechanism of CIR toxicity, and suggested that the gene expression response to CIR involves diverse regulatory mechanisms from transcription of mRNA to the formation of functional proteins.