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Updated: Jul 11, 2025
A High-throughput Assay for the Prediction of Chemical Toxicity by Automated Phenotypic Profiling of Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: March 14, 2019
Transcriptomic characterization of interactions between sodium selenite and coenzyme Q10 on preventing
Jiajia Xie1, Jiexia Wang2, Jingjing Shao3
1Department of Pharmacology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China; Key Laboratory of Children Genitourinary Diseases of Wenzhou City, Key Laboratory of Structural Malformations in Children of Zhejiang Province, Department of Pediatric Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Abstract:
The effect of heavy metal cadmium (Cd) on testicular function is recognized. However, the mechanism involved is not well-established. In the present study, we analyzed the testicular transcriptomic changes induced by acute Cd exposure of adult rats with and without supplementation of antioxidants selenium (Se) and/or coenzyme Q10 (CoQ). Cd significantly decreased serum testosterone and two steroidogenic proteins SCARB1 and STAR. RNA-Seq analyses of testicular RNAs revealed specific activation of oxidative stress-, inflammation-, MAPK- and NF-κB-related signaling molecules. In addition, Cd treatment down-regulated gene for I, III and IV complexes of mitochondrial electron transport chain and up-regulated genes for NADPH-oxidase, major cascade in ROS production. The decrease in steroidogenesis and increase in inflammation may result from oxidative stress since supplementation of Se and CoQ, but not with either alone, almost completely prevented these changes, including overall alterations in transcriptome. Cd exposure induced total of 1192 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which was reduced to 29 without considering confounding factors associated with Se/CoQ, a 97.6% protection rate. In conclusion, Cd exposure inhibited Leydig cell steroidogenesis by down-regulating SCARB1 and STAR through increasing oxidative stress and inflammation, but Se plus CoQ synergistically prevented all the changes induced by the Cd exposure.
