title: Acute testicular toxicity induced by melamine alone or a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid in mice.
abstract: Eight-week-old male Kunming mice were administered either melamine (MA, 30, 140, or 700 mg/kg/day), a melamine and cyanuric acid mixture (MC, each at 15, 70, or 350 mg/kg/day), or vehicle (control) for 3 consecutive days. Testicular toxicity was evaluated on days 1 and 5 after the final exposure. The testicular and epididymal weights and serum testosterone level were significantly decreased in the highest MC group (350 mg/kg/day). Histopathologically, both MA and MC caused obvious lesions in the testis and epididymis, with significant increases in sperm abnormalities. By TEM, the blood-testis barrier was damaged dose dependently. TUNEL staining showed that both MA and MC induced increases in germ cell apoptosis. The Sertoli cell vimentin was collapsed in the treated animals as detected by immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting. This study demonstrated that both MA and MC treatments could disrupt the blood-testis barrier and cause a clear testicular toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Lingling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China. Electronic address: sheruiping@126.com.
authors.forename: Ruiping
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: She
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Longhuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Fengjiao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Tongtong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhaojie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Pathology and Public Health, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agriculture University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Majid Hussain
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Soomro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D001814:Blood-Testis Barrier / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004822:Epididymis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000473:pathology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000187:drug effects; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood; D014227:Triazines / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D014227:Triazines; D013739:Testosterone; C004632:cyanuric acid; C011907:melamine
keywords: Apoptosis; Blood–testis barrier; Cyanuric acid; Melamine; Transmission electron microscopy; Vimentin