Effect of inhibiting carnitine biosynthesis on male rat sexual performance

被引：25

作者：

Dambrova, Maija ^{[1
]}

Cirule, Helena ^{[1
]}

Svalbe, Baiba ^{[1
,2
]}

Zvejniece, Liga ^{[1
,2
]}

Pugovichs, Osvalds ^{[1
]}

Zorenko, Tatjana ^{[2
]}

Kalvinsh, Ivars ^{[1
]}

Liepinsh, Edgars ^{[1
,2
]}

Belozertseva, Irina ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Latvian Inst Organ Synth, LV-1006 Riga, Latvia

[2] Latvian State Univ, LV-1586 Riga, Latvia

[3] Pavlov Med Univ, St Petersburg, Russia

来源：

PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR | 2008年 / 95卷 / 03期

关键词：

Carnitine; Mildronate; gamma-butyrobetaine; Male rat; Sexual behavior; Sperm; Testes;

D O I：

10.1016/j.physbeh.2008.06.012

中图分类号：

B84 [心理学];

学科分类号：

04 ; 0402 ;

摘要：

L-carnitine has a documented role as a cofactor in cellular energy metabolism and fatty acid beta-oxidation pathways and it has also been considered to function in reproductive biology. We investigated whether decreasing concentrations Of L-carnitine using an inhibitor of its' biosynthesis, mildronate (3-(2,2,2-trimethylhydrazinium)-propionate), would influence the sexual behavior or sperm quality in male rats. Mildronate treatment induced a significant decrease in carnitine concentration and an increase in gamma-butyrobetaine (GBB) concentration in both plasma and testes extracts. However, the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I in testes and testosterone concentration in plasma was not changed in mildronate treated rat. Behavioral experiments demonstrated that mildronate treatment did not decrease the sexual motivation in both sexually naive and sexually experienced rats. The densities of spermatozoa in the cauda epididymis. as well as motility, were unchanged after mildronate treatment at a dose of 100 mg/kg. In conclusion, our study provides experimental evidence that mildronate induces decrease in the free carnitine concentration in rat testes, but does not decrease the sexual activity or sperm quality of male rats. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

引用

页码：341 / 347

页数：7

共 39 条

[1] Carnitines and male infertility [J].