N‐acetylcysteine counteracts oxidative stress and prevents hCG‐induced apoptosis in rat Leydig cells through down regulation of caspase‐8 and JNK

We have earlier reported that following persistent stimulation with hCG, oxidative stress‐induced apoptosis in rat Leydig cells was mainly achieved through the extrinsic pathway. In the present study, the role of N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) in counteracting the oxidative stress and the mechanisms of inhibition of apoptosis under such conditions were investigated. NAC (1 mM) intervention with repeated hCG stimulation (50 ng/ml, four times, each with 30 min challenge) prevented the decline in Leydig cell viability and the rise in lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species. Simultaneously, the activities of the enzymes glutathione‐S‐transferase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and the intracellular glutathione and antioxidant capacity of the treated cells improved significantly. Apoptotic markers Fas, FasL, and caspase‐8, up‐regulated following repeated hCG exposure, were significantly down‐regulated following NAC co‐incubation. While Bcl‐2 expression was fully restored, Bax and caspase‐9 remained unchanged. NAC treatment induced down‐regulation of upstream JNK/pJNK and down‐stream caspase‐3 in the target cells. Taken together, the above findings indicate that NAC counteracted the oxidative stress in Leydig cells induced as a result of repeated hCG stimulation, and inhibited apoptosis by mainly regulating the extrinsic and JNK pathways of metazoan apoptosis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 77:900–909, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.