title: Antioxidant protects blood-testis barrier against synchrotron radiation X-ray-induced disruption.
abstract: Synchrotron radiation (SR) X-ray has wide biomedical applications including high resolution imaging and brain tumor therapy due to its special properties of high coherence, monochromaticity and high intensity. However, its interaction with biological tissues remains poorly understood. In this study, we used the rat testis as a model to investigate how SR X-ray would induce tissue responses, especially the blood-testis barrier (BTB) because BTB dynamics are critical for spermatogenesis. We irradiated the male gonad with increasing doses of SR X-ray and obtained the testicles 1, 10 and 20 d after the exposures. The testicle weight and seminiferous tubule diameter reduced in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Cryosections of testes were stained with tight junction (TJ) component proteins such as occludin, claudin-11, JAM-A and ZO-1. Morphologically, increasing doses of SR X-ray consistently induced developing germ cell sloughing from the seminiferous tubules, accompanied by shrinkage of the tubules. Interestingly, TJ constituent proteins appeared to be induced by the increasing doses of SR X-ray. Up to 20 d after SR X-ray irradiation, there also appeared to be time-dependent changes on the steady-state level of these protein exhibiting differential patterns at 20-day after exposure, with JAM-A/claudin-11 still being up-regulated whereas occludin/ZO-1 being down-regulated. More importantly, the BTB damage induced by 40 Gy of SR X-ray could be significantly attenuated by antioxidant N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) at a dose of 125 mg/kg. Taken together, our studies characterized the changes of TJ component proteins after SR X-ray irradiation, illustrating the possible protective effects of antioxidant NAC to BTB integrity.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes; Renji-Med X Clinical Stem Cell Research Center; Ren Ji Hospital; School of Medicine; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China ; School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes; Renji-Med X Clinical Stem Cell Research Center; Ren Ji Hospital; School of Medicine; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China ; School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tengyuan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes; Renji-Med X Clinical Stem Cell Research Center; Ren Ji Hospital; School of Medicine; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China ; School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jiaxiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Caibin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yunyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weihai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes; Renji-Med X Clinical Stem Cell Research Center; Ren Ji Hospital; School of Medicine; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China ; School of Biomedical Engineering & Med-X Research Institute; Shanghai Jiao Tong University ; Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weiliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
keywords: antioxidant; blood-testis barrier; protection; synchrotron radiation; tissue injury