title: Hypoxia-induced apoptosis and mechanism of epididymal dysfunction in rats with left-side varicocele.
abstract: To investigate the relationship between hypoxia and epididymal dysfunction and the mechanism of epididymal dysfunction in rats with left-side varicocele, a total of 45 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups in average. The expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) was detected by Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis respectively. HIF-1α was expressed in the experimental group, and the positive rate was significantly higher than that of either the sham or the control group (P < 0.05). The apoptosis index (AI) of epididymal epithelium was higher in the experimental group (7.25 ± 2.56) than that in either the sham (0.52 ± 0.57, P < 0.01) or the control group (0.08 ± 0.13, P < 0.01). Additionally, the levels of sialic acid and carnitine were lower in the experimental group than that in either the sham or the control group (P < 0.05) and were significantly negatively correlated with HIF-1α expression (r = -0.620, P = 0.014, and r = -0.610, P = 0.016 respectively). It is concluded that left-side varicocele could cause epididymal hypoxia and epididymal dysfunction. Moreover, HIF-1α maybe act as useful factor to predict germ cell apoptosis in varicocele.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tengzhou Central People's Hospital, Tengzhou, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D002331:Carnitine / Q000378:metabolism; D004822:Epididymis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D014646:Varicocele / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid; D002331:Carnitine
keywords: Apoptosis; epididymal dysfunction; varicocele