Environmental toxicants on Leydig cell function
C. Yan Cheng in Spermatogenesis, 2018
Many fungi produce toxins. Zearalenone is one of them. Zearalenone is a mycotoxin produced by some Fusarium and Gibberella species. Studies have pointed to the possible toxicity of zearalenone in Leydig cells. Zearalenone inhibited LH-stimulated testosterone production in mouse Leydig cells.265 However, it did not affect the expression and the binding activity of LHCGR.265 It also downregulated Cyp11a1, Cyp17a, and Hsd17b3 mRNA levels, possibly via suppressing Nur77 (a transcription factor) expression in mouse Leydig cells.265 Zearalenone inhibited cell growth and increased autophagy in rat Leydig cells.266 It was found that zearalenone induced Leydig cell apoptosis via an endoplasmic reticulum stress-dependent signaling pathway.267 Proteomics analysis showed that zearalenone increased energy production through promoting fatty acid uptake and beta-oxidation and increased excessive oxidative stress, thus possibly leading to lower steroidogenic enzyme expression levels.268 Prevention of ROS did not seem to restore steroidogenesis in MA-10 Leydig cells,269 suggesting that its ROS-inducing effect does not contribute to the inhibition of steroidogenesis. α-Zearalenol (0.01–100 μM), a zearalenone metabolite, also suppressed hCG-induced testosterone production and downregulated Star, Cyp11a1, and Hsd3b1 in mouse Leydig cells,270 indicating a similar mechanism to that of zearalenone.
Chemopreventive Agents
David E. Thurston, Ilona Pysz in Chemistry and Pharmacology of Anticancer Drugs, 2021
Zearalenone is produced by fungi that colonize wheat, barley, maize, and other grains (Figure 12.20). It has been linked to abnormal sexual development and birth defects in pigs and other livestock, and is suspected of having caused an outbreak of premature breast development among girls in Puerto Rico in the 1970s. Genistein is produced in a number of plants including soybeans and is often highly concentrated in phytoestrogen-rich food supplements (see Section 12.4.4.1.1).
Fusarium
Dongyou Liu in Laboratory Models for Foodborne Infections, 2017
Zearalenone (ZEA, F-2 toxin) is a resorcyclic acid lactone mycotoxin. Its name was created as a combination of “zea” (for the main producer’s name, G. zeae), “-ral” (for the initials of resorcyclic acid lactone), “-ene” (for the presence of a double bond at C1′-2′), and “-one” (for the ketone group at C6′) [12].
Toxic and irritant effects induced by zearalenone: prevention by taurine
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2021
Adem Güner
Zearalenone (ZEN) is a non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by the Fusarium species (Bertero et al. 2018). ZEN is a significant contaminant of many agricultural products thus is a major economic and health problem (Kuiper-Goodman et al. 1987, Zinedine et al. 2007). Several systematic review and meta-analytic approaches reported that 32% of mixed cereal products in Europe were contaminated by ZEN and these products were cornflakes (55%), bread (41%), breakfast cereals (37%), biscuit (22%), pasta (17%), respectively (Mousavi Khaneghah et al. 2018, Al-Jaal et al. 2019). Previous studies declared that the concentration of ZEN in human food could be found at a high level, up to 289 μg/g (Yuwai et al. 1994, Ghedira-Chekir et al. 1999). Therefore, ZEN and its metabolites (α-zearalenol and β-zearalenol) is a potential danger to human and animal health.
Autophagy in male reproduction
Published in Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine, 2019
Yinci Zhu, Qingqing Yin, Dandan Wei, Zhenyu Yang, Yanzhi Du, Yi Ma
Zearalenone (ZEA), a nonsteroidal estrogenic mycotoxin, can be found in many food products. In ZEA-treated rat Leydig cells, the levels of apoptosis and autophagy are upregulated. Pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor CQ increased the rate of apoptosis, while rapamycin decreased the rate of apoptosis, which implied a protective role of autophagy against ZEA-induced apoptosis (Wang Y. et al. 2014). Similar results can be concluded from the ZEA-treated rat Sertoli cells, xenoestrogen 4-nonylphenol (NP)-treated rat Sertoli cells, bisphenol A (BPA)-treated goat Sertoli cells, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP)-treated prepubertal rat germ cells (Duan et al. 2016; Zhang G. et al. 2016, Zhang Y. et al. 2017; Wang et al. 2018). In contrast, after being treated with a high dose of microcystin-LR (MC-LR), the accumulated autophagosomes seemed to facilitate the apoptotic process by elevating cytochrome C (Cyt C) and caspase 3 in rat Sertoli cells. In addition, the MC-LR-induced abnormalities were alleviated after the treatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA (Chen et al. 2013). A cytotoxic role of autophagy could also be observed in the di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP)-treated mouse TM3 Leydig cells (Sun et al. 2018).
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) as an antidote or a protective agent against natural or chemical toxicities: a review
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2018
Mahyar Dorri, Shirin Hashemitabar, Hossein Hosseinzadeh
Zearalenone (ZEA; ZON, F-2 toxin) is a potent estrogenic metabolite that has been implicated in several mycotoxicoses of farm animals. New evidence suggests that ZEA has potential to cease breast cancer in human. Deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin) mainly produced by Fusarium graminearum, is a toxic fungal metabolite that frequently contaminates grains such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn (Nesic et al.2014). The impact of five essential oils (oregano, cinnamon, lemongrass, clove, and palmarose) on growth rate and the production of zearalenone (ZEA) and deoxynivalenol (DON) by F. graminearum strains on maize grains was evaluated. This evaluation showed that with the addition of cinnamon to the mazie grains, a tendency to inhibit the growth of F. graminearum was observed. This suggests that essential oils could be considered as natural fungicides (Velluti et al.2004a).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Estrogen
- Estrogen Receptor
- Fusarium
- Infertility
- Metabolite
- Mycotoxin
- Teleomorph, Anamorph & Holomorph
- Vomitoxin
- T-2 Mycotoxin
- Abortion