Evaluation of toxic effects induced by arsenic trioxide or/and antimony on autophagy and apoptosis in testis of adult mice

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) and antimony (Sb) are well-known ubiquitous environmental contaminants and cause unpromising male reproductive effects in target and non-target exposed organisms. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ATO or/and Sb on process of autophagy, apoptosis, and reproductive organ in adult mice. For this reason, a total of 32 adult mice were randomly divided into different groups like control group, ATO-treated group, Sb-treated group, and combined group. The duration of current experimental trial was 2 months. Various adverse effects of ATO or/and Sb on sperm parameters, oxidative stress, autophagy, and apoptosis were determined in testis of mice. Results indicated that parameters of sperm quality for organ coefficient, sperm count, ratio of sperm survival, testosterone level, and germ cells were significantly decreased, while malformation rate and vacuolization significantly increased in mice exposed to different treatments. Furthermore, the status of antioxidant index of T-AOC, SOD, and MsrB1 levels was reduced, while MDA increased significantly in ATO + Sb group. Results on TEM investigation determined that the autophagosomes, autolysosome, nuclear pyknosis, and chromatin condensation were prominent ailments, and the levels of autophagy and pro-apoptosis indictors including Beclin1, Atg-5, LC3B/LC3A, caspase-8, cytc, cleaved caspase-3, p53, and Bax were up-regulated in treated group, while the content of an anti-apoptosis maker (Bcl-2) was down-regulated. In conclusion, the results of our experiment suggested that abnormal process of autophagy and apoptosis was triggered by arsenic and antimony, and intensity of toxic effects increased in combined treatments of ATO and Sb.