Aging in the Syrian hamster testis: Inflammatory-oxidative status and the impact of photoperiod

MATZKIN ME ; ROSSI SP ; MAYERHOFER A ; FRUNGIERI MB ; RIVIERE E ; MUÑOZ DE TORO MM; CALANDRA RS ; VALCHI P ; TAVALIERI YE; BARTKE A

EXPERIMENTAL GERONTOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2019 vol. 124

0531-5565

Testicular aging is linked to histological, morphological and functional alterations. In the present study, weinvestigated whether aging affects the inflammatory and oxidative status in the testis by comparing young adult,middle-aged adult and aged hamsters. The Syrian hamster, a thoroughly studied seasonal breeder, was chosen asthe experimental model since it allows further investigations on the role of photoperiod and melatonin in testicularaging with a minimal impact of the experimental intervention on the animal well-being and the subsequentresults achieved.In testes of aged hamsters, we found a decrease in melatonin concentration, a thickening of the wall of theseminiferous tubules as well as a significant increase in IL-1β, NLRP3 and cyclooxygenase 2 expression, PGD2production, macrophages numbers, lipid peroxidation and anti-oxidant enzyme catalase levels. Interestingly,when aged hamsters were transferred from a long day (LD) to a short day (SD) photoperiod for 16 weeks,testicular melatonin concentration increased while local inflammatory processes and oxidative stress wereclearly reduced.Overall, these results indicate that melatonin might display anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant capacities inthe aged testes.