title: Comparison of the intracellular behavior of gold (Au) and indium (In) in testicle after their parenteral administration.
abstract: The subcellular behavior of several mineral elements was studied using modern techniques of observation like transmission electron microscopy and analysis like electron probe microanalysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry. In the present ultrastructural and analytical investigations, we undertake to compare the intracellular behavior of a heavy metal, gold, and a III-A group element, indium, on rat testicular tissues after their parenteral administrations. Our ultrastructural results showed that while gold was found only in the lysosomes of Leydig cells under electron dense needles, indium was observed as electron-dense deposits in the lysosomes of both Leydig and Sertoli cells. No ultrastructural modifications were observed in the testicular tissues of the control rats. The microanalytical study showed that gold was concentrated in lysosomes with sulfur as a sulfate crystalline structure whereas indium was concentrated in the same organelle as insoluble phosphate salt. These results demonstrated that testicular Leydig and Sertoli cells have the ability to selectively concentrate indium but gold was concentrated only in the first kind of cells. The mechanism implicated in this concentration phenomenon is a biochemical one involving intralysosomal hydrolytic enzymes, the acid phosphatase and the arylsulfatase. This mechanism occurs in order to protect the organism and to avoid the presence of toxic metals under soluble and free form.
authors: Laboratoire de Physiologie, Faculté de Médecine de Tunis, 15, Rue Djebel Lakhdar, La Rabta 1007, Tunis, Tunisie. maghraoui.samira@gmail.com
authors: Samira
authors: S
authors: Maghraoui
authors: Ahlem
authors: A
authors: Ayadi
authors: Aouatef
authors: A
authors: Ben Ammar
authors: Mohamed Habib
authors: MH
authors: Jaafoura
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Galle
authors: Ali
authors: A
authors: El Hili
authors: Leila
authors: L
authors: Tekaya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004577:Electron Probe Microanalysis; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D007204:Indium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D007985:Leydig Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D018629:Spectrometry, Mass, Secondary Ion; D013737:Testis / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D007204:Indium; D006046:Gold
keywords: electron probe microanalysis (EPMA); gold; indium; lysosomes; testicular cells; transmission electron microscopy