The effects of selenium on GPX4-mediated lipid peroxidation and apoptosis in germ cells

Emerging evidence suggests that selenium plays an essential role in sperm maturation. However, the specific signaling pathway by which selenium exerts effect has not been elucidated. To evaluate the effect of selenium on GPX4-mediated lipid peroxidation and apoptosis in germ cells, selenium deficiency was modeled by culturing GC2-spd cells in serum-free medium. Treatment with 0.5-μM sodium selenite (NaSe) or 5.0-μM selenomethionine (SeMet) significantly improved the proliferation rate and GPX4 protein expression after selenium deficiency. Moreover, NaSe and SeMet decreased the MDA content and lipid peroxidation. When adenovirus was used to knockdown the expression of the GPX4 gene (shRNA-GPX4), the early apoptosis rate of the shRNA-GPX4 cells was significantly higher than that of the EGFP cells. Increased expression of Caspase3 and Bax, as well as MDA content were observed in the shRNA-GPX4 cells compared with EGFP cells. In further, overexpression of the GPX4 gene (ORF-GPX4) cells exhibited increased cell proliferation and decreased MDA content. However, there was no significant difference in 12/15-lox expression both in ORF-GPX4 cells and shRNA-GPX4 cells. Conclusively, GPX4 was involved in the regulation of lipid peroxidation and apoptosis in GC2-spd cells. Selenium played a role in promoting cell proliferation by mediating GPX4. The regulation of GPX4 may occur independently of 12/15-Lox. These findings confirmed the effect of selenium on spermatogenesis and offered a potential target for treating abnormal semen quality in men.