COVID-19 disrupts the blood–testis barrier through the induction of inflammatory cytokines and disruption of junctional proteins
Autor: | Gholam-Reza Mahmoudiasl, Arefeh Aryan, Masoud Ghadipasha, Mohammad-Amin Abdollahifar, Sanaz Ziaeipour, Mohammadhossein Kargar Godaneh, Vahid Ebrahimi, Bahram Eslami Farsani, Abbas Aliaghaei, Negin Moghimi, Amir Raoofi, Mehdi Forozesh, Shabnam Abdi, Tahmineh Peirouvi |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
Male
medicine.medical_treatment Immunology Immunocytochemistry Interleukin-1beta Inflammation Occludin Proinflammatory cytokine Andrology Testis Medicine Humans Claudin Lung Blood-Testis Barrier Blood–testis barrier Pharmacology Sertoli Cells business.industry Interleukin-6 Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha COVID-19 Middle Aged Sertoli cell Inflammatory cytokines Immunohistochemistry Original Research Paper Cytokine medicine.anatomical_structure Connexin 43 Claudins Cytokines RNA Viral Autopsy medicine.symptom business |
Zdroj: | Inflammation Research |
ISSN: | 1420-908X 1023-3830 |
Popis: | Objective Junctional proteins are the most important component of the blood-testis barrier and maintaining the integrity of this barrier is essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility. The present study elucidated the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the blood–testis barrier (BTB) in patients who died from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) complications. Methods In this study, lung and testis tissue was collected from autopsies of COVID-19 positive (n = 10) and negative men (n = 10) and was taken for stereology, immunocytochemistry, and RNA extraction. Results Evaluation of the lung tissue showed that the SARS-CoV-2 infection caused extensive damage to the lung tissue and also increases inflammation in testicular tissue and destruction of the testicular blood barrier. Autopsied testicular specimens of COVID-19 showed that COVID-19 infection significantly changes the spatial arrangement of testicular cells and notably decreased the number of Sertoli cells. Moreover, the immunohistochemistry results showed a significant reduction in the protein expression of occluding, claudin-11, and connexin-43 in the COVID-19 group. In addition, we also observed a remarkable enhancement in protein expression of CD68 in the testes of the COVID-19 group in comparison with the control group. Furthermore, the result showed that the expression of TNF-α, IL1β, and IL6 was significantly increased in COVID-19 cases as well as the expression of occludin, claudin-11, and connexin-43 was decreased in COVID-19 cases. Conclusions Overall, the present study demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 could induce the up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine and down-regulation of junctional proteins of the BTB, which can disrupt BTB and ultimately impair spermatogenesis. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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