Analysis of molecular changes in testes submitted to nanoparticle-mediated photohyperthermia as a method of inducing infertility
Testicular hyperthermia, Gene expression, Seminiferous tubules.
The objective of the present work was to investigate molecular alterations caused by the procedure of photohyperthermia mediated by nanoparticles (FHT) applied to testicles of Wistar rats. The animals were treated and divided according to the moment of euthanasia: 24 hours, 72 hours and 7 days after the procedure. The testicles were measured, weighed and segmented, one part destined for the evaluation of molecular markers and one part for histopathological evaluation. For the analysis of molecular markers, the extraction of total RNA from the samples was performed and the expression of the genes Mtrf1, Trf2, CLDN11 and StAR was analyzed, normalized by the GAPDH and B-actin genes. The Mtrf1 and Trf2 genes showed a significant reduction in expression after treatment, mainly in the 24h and 72h groups, remaining low in the 7-day group. The CLDN11 gene did not show statistical difference, however it is possible to observe an increasing tendency, more evident in the animals analyzed 7 days after FHT. The StAR gene had higher expression in the testes of treated animals 24h after treatment, even with variation between animals, and reduced after 72h and 7 days. Histopathological analyzes showed slight alterations in the 24h and 72h groups, however, the beginning of vacuolation and exfoliated cells in the lumen of some tubules were already visible. In the 7-day samples, the alterations were more pronounced, with greater vacuolization, reduction in the size of the tubules and extensive coagulative necrosis. The work showed that testicular FHT treatment affects the expression of genes that may be involved in ROS production or antioxidant protection pathways, and histopathological analyzes showed the damage caused by the treatment, corroborating that the procedure causes irreversible damage to testicular function. It is still necessary to analyze the expression of other genes to better identify the regulatory pathways.