SIRT 3 was involved in Lycium barbarum seed oil protection testis from oxidative stress: in vitro and in vivo analyses

Context Lycium barbarum L. (Solanaceae) seed oil (LBSO) exerts LBSO exerts protective effects in the testis in vivo and in vitro via upregulating SIRT3. Objective This study evaluates the effects and mechanism of LBSO in the d-galactose (d-gal)-induced ageing testis. Materials and methods Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (n = 30, 8-week-old) were randomly divided into three groups: LBSO group (n = 10) where rats received subcutaneous injection of d-gal at 125 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks and intragastric administration of LBSO at 1000 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks, ageing model group (n = 10) received 8-week-sunbcutaneous injection of d-gal, and control group (n = 10) with same administration of normal saline. Lentivirus had established TM4 cells with SIRT3 overexpression or silencing before LBSO intervened in vitro. Results Treatment with LBSO, the levels of INHB and testosterone both increased, compared to ageing model. In vitro, we found the ED50 of LBSO was 86.72 +/- 1.49 and when the concentration of LBSO at 100 mu g/mL to intervene TM4 cells, the number of cells increased from 8120 +/- 676.2 to 15251 +/- 1119, and the expression of SIRT3, HO-1, and SOD upregulated. However, HO-1 and SOD were dysregulated by silencing SIRT3. On the other hand, the expression of AMPK and PGC-1 alpha upregulated as an effect of SIRT3 overexpression by lentivirus, meanwhile the same increasing trend of that being found in cells treated with LBSO, compared to control group. Discussion and conclusions LBSO alleviated oxidative stress in d-gal-induced sub-acutely ageing testis and TM4 cells by suppressing the oxidative stress to mitochondria via SIRT3/AMPK/PGC-1 alpha.