Mo-Qi Lv

Millions of people chew areca nut to boost work efficiency and relieve stress. Areca nut contains arecoline, which adversely affects reproductive function, although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we evaluated arecoline-mediated reproductive toxicity using Sprague–Dawley (SD) rat models and an in vitro GC-1 cell model. Molecular docking, quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blot, cell-based assays, and functional rescue experiments were used to investigate the mechanisms involved. Dose-dependent spermatogenic damage was observed in male rats receiving 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg arecoline, with reduced sperm counts and quality, higher testicular MDA and lower activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Molecular docking predicted a possible interaction between arecoline and Notch1. qRT-PCR and Western blot analyses showed that the expression of Notch1 and its ligands, Jagged-1 and Dll-1, was downregulated in testicular tissues and GC-1 cells following arecoline exposure. Notch1 expression was strongly positively correlated with seminiferous tubule diameter and seminiferous epithelium height. In vitro, arecoline induced ROS accumulation, inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis in GC-1 cells. Rescue experiments showed that the Notch activator valproic acid, used to enhance Notch signaling, alleviated arecoline-induced toxicity, whereas Notch inhibitor FLI-06 worsened cell injury. These findings support a role for altered Notch signaling and oxidative stress in arecoline-induced spermatogenic injury and provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of its reproductive toxicity.

Microdissection testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE) is an effective method to retrieve sperm from non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) patients. However,

Background: This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the weekend catch-up outdoor duration (WCOD) and prevalence of myopia among students in China. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited participants in 107 schools (six cities, 30 districts) from China from May to June 2021. Demographic characteristics (age, grade, sex, ethnicity, BMI, resident, and parents’ myopia), optically habits (bad writing habits, working/studying time per day, continuous working/studying time per day, and screen time per day) and outdoor duration (weekday and weekend) were obtained from questionnaire. WCOD was defined as outdoor time 1 h longer on weekends than on weekdays. Spherical equivalent (SE) of refractive error were measured with non-cycloplegic refraction. Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between WCOD and prevalence of myopia. Results: Students with myopia had shorter WCOD compared with those without myopia (P < 0.001). Adjusted multivariate logistic regression analyses showed negative associations between WCOD and prevalence of myopia in Chinese students, especially in students with WCOD of 2–3 h (OR = 0.577, P < 0.001) and 3–4 h (OR = 0.571, P = 0.004) when the weekday outdoor duration was 0.5–1 h, as well as students with WCOD of 2–3 h (OR = 0.614, P = 0.003) when the weekday outdoor duration was 1–2 h. Similar results were observed in students with high myopia. Students with high myopia had shorter WCOD compared with those without high myopia (P = 0.001). Negative associations between WCOD and prevalence of high myopia were significant in students with WCOD of 1–2 h when the weekday outdoor duration was < 0.5 h (OR = 0.585, P = 0.007) and 0.5–1 h (OR = 0.537, P = 0.018). Conclusion: Our study, for the first time, reported that a WCOD have a potential to reduce the prevalence of myopia and high myopia in Chinese students.