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Morphological Features of the Testis among Autoimmune Mouse Model and Healthy Strains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2021

Zeinab Shouman ,
Hany E. Marei ,
Ahmed Abd-Elmaksoud ,
Mohamed Kassab ,
Takashi Namba ,
Md. Abdul Masum ,
Yaser Hosny Ali Elewa Open the ORCID record for Yaser Hosny Ali Elewa [Opens in a new window] ,
Osamu Ichii Open the ORCID record for Osamu Ichii [Opens in a new window]  and
Yasuhiro Kon
Zeinab Shouman
Affiliation:
Department of Cytology and Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura35516, Egypt Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan
Hany E. Marei
Affiliation:
Department of Cytology and Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura35516, Egypt
Ahmed Abd-Elmaksoud
Affiliation:
Department of Cytology and Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura35516, Egypt
Mohamed Kassab
Affiliation:
Department of Cytology and Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, kafrelsheikh33516, Egypt
Takashi Namba
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan
Md. Abdul Masum
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan
Yaser Hosny Ali Elewa
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig44519, Egypt
Osamu Ichii
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan Laboratory of Agrobiomedical Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Yasuhiro Kon*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 18, Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo060-0818, Japan
*
*Corresponding author: Yasuhiro Kon, E-mail: y-kon@vetmed.hokudai.ac.jp
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Abstract

Autoimmune diseases play a critical role in the progression of infertility in both sexes and their severity has been reported to increase with age. However, few reports have discussed their effect on the morphological features of the testis. Therefore, we compared the morphological alterations in the testes of autoimmune model mice (MRL/MpJ-Faslpr) and the control strain (MRL/MpJ) with those of their background strain (C57BL/6N) at 3 and 6 months. Furthermore, we analyzed the changes in spermatocytes, Sertoli cells, immune cells, and Zonula occludens-1 junctional protein by immunohistochemical staining. The MRL/MpJ-Faslpr mice showed a significant increase in the serum Anti-double stranded DNA antibody level, relative spleen weight, and seminiferous luminal area when compared with other studied two strains. In contrast, a significant decrease in the relative testis weight, and numbers of both Sertoli, meiotic spermatocyte was observed in MRL/MpJ-Faslpr and MRL/MpJ mice compared with C57BL/6N mice especially at 6 months. Similarly, Zonula occludens-1 junctional protein positive cells showed a significant decrease in the same strains at 6 months. However, no immune cell infiltration could be observed among the studied three strains. Our findings suggest that the increase in autoimmune severity especially with age could lead to infertility through loss of spermatogenic and Sertoli cells, rather than the disturbance of the blood–testis barrier.

Keywords

autoimmune diseaseimmune cellMRL/MpJ-Faslpr miceseminiferous tubulesSertoli cells
Type
Biological Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , October 2021 , pp. 1209 - 1217
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Microscopy Society of America

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Footnotes

†

Equal contribution to this article.

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