LPS impairs steroidogenesis and ROS metabolism and induces PPAR transcriptional activity to disturb estrogen/androgen receptor expression in testicular cells

Inflammation can deregulate the testicular functions of steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis, consequently contributing to male infertility. Animals and cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exhibit infection- and inflammation-induced testicular dysfunction. However, the precise mechanisms affecting steroidogenesis and spermatogenesis in response to LPS-treatment remain poorly understood. We isolated distinct testicular cells including spermatocytes, round spermatids and late spermatids to analyze distribution of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) family, plays central roles in the regulation of metabolism. Our results suggested Ppar alpha/Ppar gamma mRNA was highly expressed in late spermatids, while Ppar beta mRNA was highly expressed in round spermatids. To analyze the effect of LPS on testicular cells, we established an LPS infection model using primary Sertoli cells and testicular cell lines (TM4, GC2 and MLTC1). We observed that PPAR gamma and SIRT1 were concentrated in the nuclear region and that the mRNA expression levels of antioxidative enzymes (Cat and Homx1) and PPAR gamma were upregulated in primary Sertoli cells after LPS-treatment. Moreover, luciferase reporter gene assays of the testicular cell lines revealed that the activity of the PPAR response element (PPRE) was significantly increased. Importantly, the transcriptional activity of the androgen response element was significantly reduced, whereas activity of estrogen response element was strongly induced in LPS-treated TM4 cells, consistent with the RT-PCR results. Meanwhile, the qRT-PCR results revealed that the LPS-induced upregulation of Ar mRNA in MLTC1 cells and Er beta mRNA in TM4 cells were significantly recovered after treatment with the specific PPAR gamma-antagonist GW9662. In addition, we also found that LPS induced alterations in enzymes involved in steroidogenesis in testicular cell lines. Taken together, our results revealed that LPS may induce PPAR transcriptional activity to disturb estrogen/androgen receptor expression and impair steroidogenesis and ROS metabolism in testicular cells.