The effects of 4-Vinylcyclohexene diepoxide on gene expression in dog testes

In this study, the effects of 4-Vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) on the testicular gene expression in dogs were investigated. Eighteen male dogs were used as material and were randomly allocated to 3 groups. The first group (n=6) was administered sesame oil by intraperitoneal (i.p.) route once a day for 8 days, and this group was served as a control. The second group (n=6) received 80 mg/kg VCD and the third (n=6) group was administered VCD (i.p.) at a dose of 320 mg/kg once daily for 8 days. The testes were removed on following day the last VCD administration. The testes were immediately placed in the RNA stabilization solution and stored at -20°C. Later mRNAs were obtained from tissue samples. After RNA isolation, the cDNAs were synthesized. Finally, MasterMix was prepared and gene expression levels were examined at the real-time PCR. The expression of B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), tumor suppressor protein (tp53), Bax, CASP2, CASP3, CASP8, CASP9 and β-actin were investigated in the all groups. Cross-group comparisons were made by using student t test. The tp53 gene expression in the second group was found to be higher compared to the control group. It was determined that the expression of Bcl-2 was reduced in the testes of animals treated with high-dose VCD. CASP-3 was found to be more expressed and CASP-9 was down-regulated in the third group. In addition, CASP-8 gene expression was significantly reduced in both treatment groups. As a result, it can be concluded that expression changes in the tp53, Bcl-2, CASP-3, CASP-8 and CASP-9 genes in the testes of male dogs may cause apoptotic changes with the VCD application.