The antiapoptotic effects of conditioned medium from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells on...

Cyclophosphamide (CP) has some negative effects on the reproductive system. Stem cells and their metabolites are being utilized to enhance fertility after chemotherapy.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of conditioned medium (CM) derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stromal stem cells (BM-MSCs) on the toxic effects of CP on testicles.

BM-MSCs were isolated, a CM was collected and 25-fold concentrated. 24 male Wistar rats (8 wk, 200-250 gr) were randomly divided into following groups: control, CP, CP+ Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), CP+CM. CP was given at a single dose of 100 mg/kg. 2 wk after the CP administration, CM was injected into the testicular efferent duct. Sperm parameters, testicular histopathology, and the level of testosterone were analyzed 2 months after treatment. The expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) and Bcl2-associated X protein (Bax) genes were evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

CP had a negative effect on testis histology (p $$ 0.001) and sperm quality (p $$ 0.001). It changed the expression of genes associated with apoptosis (p $$ 0.001). Treatment with CM reduced the expression of Bax (p $$ 0.001), while significantly increasing the expression of Bcl2 (p = 0.01). It improved sperm count (p = 0.03), viability (p $$ 0.001), motility (p $$ 0.001), spermatogonial count (p $$ 0.001), and epithelial thickness of testicular tubules (p = 0.02).

These findings suggest that CM produced from BM-MSCs may be valuable for therapeutic approaches in reproductive medicine and may lessen the side effects of CP.