Taurine increases testicular function in aged rats by inhibiting oxidative stress and apoptosis

In males, the decline of androgen synthesis, spermatogenesis and sexual function are the main phenotypes of aging, which may be attributed to testicular dysfunction. Taurine can act as an antioxidant, a testosterone secretion stimulator, a sperm membrane stabilizer and motility factor, and an anti-apoptotic agent. Recent observational studies suggested that taurine may play an important role in spermatogenesis, but to date whether taurine has anti-aging effects on testes remains unknown. We found that in aged rats testicular SDH and G6PDH activities, marker enzymes of testes, serum testosterone, testicular 3β-HSD and 17β-HSD mRNA expression levels were significantly increased by taurine treatment. Taurine administration also markedly raised the sperm count, viability and motility, decreased the sperm abnormality. Our data suggested that taurine can postpone testicular function deterioration in aged rats. Importantly, we observed obvious elevation of testicular antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH, GSH-Px) activities, and remarkable reduction of ROS and MDA by taurine administration, indicating taurine can decrease testicular oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in aged rats. Finally, we found taurine effectively reduced testicular DNA fragmentation, increased testicular Bcl-2 protein expression, and decreased cytochrome c, Bax, Fas, FasL and caspase-3 expression, suggesting taurine can prohibit aged testicular apoptosis by mitochondrial dependent and independent signal pathway. In summary, our results indicated that taurine can suppress testicular function deterioration by increasing antioxidant ability and inhibiting apoptosis.