Effects of endothelial cell growth factor on endothelial cell growth factor receptor 2 and sperm apoptosis in epididymal rats with gene-silencing arsenic poisoning
Objective To understand the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)on vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 and sperm apoptosis in rats with gene-silencing arsenic poisoning.Methods One hundred and sixty male SD rats aged 18-weeks were randomly divided into control(distilled water)group and 2.4,12,60 mg/L sodium arsenite exposed groups,with 40 rats in each group.The rats were treated with arsenic through drinking water for 6 consecutive months.Male SD rats exposed to 2.4 mg/L sodium arsenic were subjected to lentiviral interference,namely control group,NC-shRNA negative infection group,VEGF-shRNA-1 infection group,VEGF-shRNA-2 infection group,VEGF-shRNA-3 infection group,respectively.Each epididymis was injected with 100 μl virus containing different lentiviral vectors,6 in each group.The protein and mRNA expression levels of VEGF,VEGFR2 in the epididymis of rats were then detected by Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR(q-RT-PCR).The apoptosis rate of sperms was determined by using flow cytometry(FCM).Results Compared with the negative infection group and the normal control group,the mRNA and protein expression levels of VEGF and VEGFR2 significantly reduced following epididymal infection(P＜0.05).Furthermore,the interference effect was stronger in the VEGF-shRNA-3 group.Compared with the control group and the negative infection group,the apoptosis rate of sperms was significantly higher(P＜0.05).Conclusion Epididymal VEGF gene silencing may promote sperm apoptosis by inhibiting VEGFR2 expression.
万方数据
维普
