Contribution of Oxidative Stress, Apoptosis, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Autophagy Pathways to the Ameliorative Effects of Hesperidin in NaF-Induced Testicular Toxicity

The ameliorative effects of hesperidin (HES) on the toxicities created by sodium fluoride (NaF) in the testes tissue of rats were studied via oxidative stress, apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways. The animals were divided into five distinct groups (7 rats in each group). Group 1 was control group, group 2 received NaF-only (600 ppm), group 3 received HES-only (200 mg/kg bw); group 4 received NaF (600 ppm)+HES (100 mg/kg bw) and group 5 received NaF (600 ppm)+HES (200 mg/kg bw) for 14 days. NaF-induced testes tissue damage by reducing activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and levels of glutathione (GSH), and increasing lipid peroxidation levels. NaF treatment significantly downregulated the mRNA levels of SOD1, CAT and GPx. NaF supplementation caused apoptosis in the testes by upregulating p53, NFkB, caspase-3, caspase-6, caspase-9, and Bax and downregulating Bcl-2. Furthermore, NaF caused ER stress via increasing mRNA transcript levels of PERK, IRE1, ATF-6 and GRP78. NaF treatment led to autophagy via upregulation of Beclin1, LC3A, LC3B and AKT2. In testes tissue, however, co-treatment with HES at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly reduced oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy and ER stress. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that HES may help to reduce testes damage caused by NaF toxicity.