Aflatoxin B1 causes oxidative stress and apoptosis in sheep testes associated with disrupting rumen microbiota

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Fu-chun Jian¹  Xuebing Wang²  Hai-ju Dong²  Qinghao Li²  Fang Liu²  Ke Yue²  Lu-xi Lin²  Qin-qin Cao²  Chao-dong Zhang²  Ting-ting Xu²  Shu-cheng Huang³ 

[1] College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, PR China;College of Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, PR China;Corresponding author.;

关键词: Aflatoxin B1;    Apoptosis;    Gut microbiota;    Oxidative stress;    Testis;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is an unavoidable environmental pollutant commonly found in feed and foodstuffs. It is the most toxic one of all the aflatoxins, which can cause severe impairment to testicular development and function. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of reproductive toxicity in rams sheep remain inconclusive. The study was designed to explore the effects of AFB1 on sheep testes through rumen-microbiota, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Six-month-old male Dorper rams (n = 6) were orally administrated with 1.0 mg/kg AFB1 (dissolved in 20 mL 4% ethanol) 24 h before the experiment. At the same time, rams in the control group (n = 6) were intragastrically administrated with 20 mL 4% ethanol. It was observed that acute AFB1 poisoning had significant (p < 0.05) toxin residue in the testis and could cause testicular histopathological damage. AFB1 stimulated the secretion of plasma testosterone level through regulating testosterone synthesis-related genes (StAR, 3β-HSD, CYP11A1, and CYP17A1), which are accompanied by the increase of oxidative stress and testicular apoptosis that had a close relationship with the regulation of testosterone secretion. Interestingly, we observed rumen dysbacteriosis and decreased the abundances of Prevotella, Succiniclasticum, CF231, Ruminococcus, and Pseudobutyrivibrio in AFB1-exposed sheep, which were negatively correlated to the testosterone synthesis-related gene levels. Taken together, our findings indicated that AFB1 induced testicular damage and testicular dysfunction, which is related to testicular oxidative stress and apoptosis involved in rumen dysbacteriosis in sheep.

【 授权许可】

Unknown