Mancozeb Induced Cell Death in Sertoli-Germ Cells Co-Culture

Background: : Exposure to many substances such as pesticides have detrimental effects on health and are considered to contrib-ute substantially to most diseases. They mediate some of toxic effects by regulation/induction of apoptosis, which ultimately lead to impaired fertility. Mancozeb (MZB) is a fungicide rou-tinely used to protect field crops against fungal diseases. It has been shown to produce hepatotoxicity, neural disorders, thyroid glands and reproductive dysfunctions. We investigated whether MZB induces cell death in Sertoli-germ cells.Materials and Methods: Experiments were carried out in Ser-toli- germ cells from mice. Testes were decapsulated and cells were obtained by mechanical and enzymatic digestion. Sertoli-germ cells were seeded in complete DMEM/F12 supplemented with FBS. Cells were treated with the appropriate concentra-tions of MZB (1.5, 2.5 µM) for 3 hours. For assaying apopto-sis, cells harvested, washed, and stained with Annexin V and PI. They were incubated at room temperature for 15 minutes in dark. Cell fluorescence was acquired by flow cytometer system Results: Flow cytometric analysis showed that MZB caused apoptotic cell death after treatment with 1.5, 2.5 MZB (signifi-cant difference: P< 0.001, compared with control).Conclusion: In summary, result of the current study suggests that MZB can induce cell death which may eventually affect the production of sperms.

Keywords:

Mancozeb , Sertoli-Germ Cells , Apoptosis