Endoplasmic reticulum stress mediating downregulated StAR and 3-beta-HSD and low plasma testosterone caused by hypoxia is attenuated by CPU86017-RS and nifedipine
(1) Faculty of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 210009, China
Abstract:
Background
Hypoxia exposure initiates low serum testosterone levels that could be attributed to downregulated androgen biosynthesizing
genes such as StAR (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein) and 3-beta-HSD (3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) in the testis.
It was hypothesized that these abnormalities in the testis by hypoxia are associated with oxidative stress and an increase
in chaperones of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and ER stress could be modulated by a reduction in calcium influx.
Therefore, we verify that if an application of CPU86017-RS (simplified as RS, a derivative to berberine) could alleviate the
ER stress and depressed gene expressions of StAR and 3-beta-HSD, and low plasma testosterone in hypoxic rats, these were compared
with those of nifedipine.