Mechanisms of Cadmium-Induced Testicular Damage

Document Type : Mini-reviews

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1 Hours university

2 Pharmacology & toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt.

3 Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt.

Abstract

Testicular damage is one of the deleterious effects of cadmium (Cd) toxicity. Cadmium is a serious contaminant to the environment that causes severe damage to a variety of tissues and organs including the liver, kidney, and testes. Moreover, cadmium compounds are classified as carcinogenic substances in humans. Acute and chronic cadmium intoxication results in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), attenuation of anti-oxidant enzyme activity and inducing oxidative stress. In addition, inflammation is induced by cadmium toxicity. So, both oxidative stress and inflammation play an important role in the pathogenesis of testicular damage under cadmium exposure. Oxidative stress is triggered by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and an imbalance between ROS and antioxidant enzymes activities. oxidative stress activates the NF-κB signaling pathway, which controls several genes implicated in inflammatory responses such as TNF-α and iNOS. Cd can pass through the blood-testes barrier, causing changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis and DNA damage The harmful effect of cadmium on testes is known to be germ cell degeneration and impairment of testicular steroidogenesis due to damage in testicular Leydig cells.

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Records of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences
Volume 6, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
Pharmacology- Pharmaceutics
April 2022
Pages 28-33

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