squid ink polysaccharide reduces cyclophosphamide-induced testicular damage via nrf2/are activation pathway in mice

objective(s):cyclophosphamide (cp) toxicity on testis was hampered by squid ink polysaccharide (sip) via restoration of antioxidant ability in our previous investigations. this study investigated roles of nrf2/are signal pathway in testis of treated mice. materials and methods: male kunming mice were employed to undergo treatment with sip and/or cp. protein levels of nrf2, keap-1, histone deacetylase 2 (hdac2), quinone oxidoreductase 1 (nqo-1), and heme oxygenase 1 (ho-1) and phosphorylation level of protein kinase c (pkc) in testis were evaluated by western blotting. results: data showed that sip elevated expressions of nqo-1 and ho-1 genes, two downstream target molecules of nrf2, via activating nrf2 to play preventive roles on cp-treated testis, and further discovered that upstream regulators of nrf2, keap-1, hdac2, and pkc, were concerned with the regulation of nrf2. conclusion: these results suggest that sip could effectively weaken cp-associated testicular damage via nrf2/are signal pathway.