Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells rescue spermatogenesis and alleviate testicular damage in a rat model of chemotherapy-induced infertility

Abstract

Stem cell therapy is one of the most promising fields of biomedical research, as enthusiasm for its applications and effectiveness have been proven in different therapeutic approaches.Therefore, we aimed to appraise the therapeutic role of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) in mitigating cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced infertility in a rat model.The study included three experimental groups: control, CTX, and stem cell treatment groups.Testes were collected for histopathological analysis and gene expression assessment of protamine, prohibitin, and StAR genes.The results showed that cyclophosphamide impaired spermatogenesis and caused testicular damage.However, the transplantation of AT-MSCs facilitated the restoration of the seminiferous epithelium and enhanced the regeneration of spermatogenesis.The expression of protamine, prohibitin, and StAR genes was upregulated in the AT-MSCs group compared to the CTX group.This study provides further evidence for the relationship between the expression of protamine and prohibitin genes and male infertility.In conclusion, AT-MSCs were able to recover the spermatogenesis process and regenerate the damaged testicular elements in cyclophosphamide-treated rats.