Melatonin ameliorates restraint stress-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in testicular cells via NF-κB/iNOS and Nrf2/ HO-1 signaling pathway.

ABSTRACT: Decline in semen quality has become a global public health concern. Psychological stress is common in the current modern society and is associated with semen decline. Increasing evidence demonstrated that melatonin has anti-apoptotic and antioxidant functions. Whether melatonin can ameliorate the damage in testes induced by psychological stress has never been investigated. Here, a mouse model of restraint stress demonstrated that melatonin normalized the sperm density decline, testicular cells apoptosis, and testicular oxidative stress in stressed male mice. Melatonin decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) activities, and downregulated inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) activities in

SUBMITTER: Guo Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5575312 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature