DNA damage and decrease of cellular oxidase activity in piglet Sertoli cells exposed to arsanilic acid.

The study was designed to explore the toxic effects of arsanilic acid on piglet Sertoli cells. Sertoli cells were isolated from piglet testes using a two-step enzyme digestion followed by differential plating. Piglet Sertoli cells were cultured and classified into the following five groups: group A, the control without arsanilic acid treatment; group B, cultured with 5 µM arsanilic acid; group C, cultured with 50 µM arsanilic acid; group D, cultured with 0.5 mM arsanilic acid; and group E, cultured with 5 mM arsanilic acid. We found that Sertoli cell growth was inhibited by arsanilic acid at 0.5 mM compared with the control, group A. The oxidase activity of Sertoli cells was decreased by arsanilic acid at 0.5 mM as evidenced by the observations that arsanilic acid increased MDA content but decreased the SOD and GSH-Px activities of Sertoli cells. Moreover, 50 µM of arsanilic acid was observed to cause DNA damage in Sertoli cells. The results of our study suggest that exposure of Sertoli cells to arsanilic acid leads to induction of oxidative stress and inhibition of cell growth at a high concentration, while arsanilic acid causes DNA damage in Sertoli cells at a low concentration.