Objective
Junctional proteins are the most important component of the blood-testis barrier and maintaining the integrity of this barrier is essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility. The present study elucidated the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on the blood–testis barrier (BTB) in patients who died from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) complications.
Methods
In this study, lung and testis tissue was collected from autopsies of COVID-19 positive (
n
= 10) and negative men (
n
= 10) and was taken for stereology, immunocytochemistry, and RNA extraction.
Results
Evaluation of the lung tissue showed that the SARS-CoV-2 infection caused extensive damage to the lung tissue and also increases inflammation in testicular tissue and destruction of the testicular blood barrier. Autopsied testicular specimens of COVID-19 showed that COVID-19 infection significantly changes the spatial arrangement of testicular cells and notably decreased the number of Sertoli cells. Moreover, the immunohistochemistry results showed a significant reduction in the protein expression of occluding, claudin-11, and connexin-43 in the COVID-19 group. In addition, we also observed a remarkable enhancement in protein expression of CD68 in the testes of the COVID-19 group in comparison with the control group. Furthermore, the result showed that the expression of TNF-α, IL1β, and IL6 was significantly increased in COVID-19 cases as well as the expression of occludin, claudin-11, and connexin-43 was decreased in COVID-19 cases.
Conclusions
Overall, the present study demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 could induce the up-regulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine and down-regulation of junctional proteins of the BTB, which can disrupt BTB and ultimately impair spermatogenesis.
SUMMARY:The occipital condyle (OC) is an important area in craniovertebral surgery, but its anatomical features and the procedures concerning the OC have not been studied in detail yet. The aim of this study was to revisit the anatomy of the occipital condyle region and assess variations of the surrounding structures. Observations, on fifty dry skulls (dried specimens, 100 sides) and determined of condyle measurements. The mean length, width and height of occipital condyle were found to be 19.43±3.27 (right), 19.28±3.57 (left), 9.21±1.97 (right) 9.40±1.87 (left), 7.21±1.9 (right) and 7.33±2.74 mm (left), respectively. There were significant differences between right and left occipital condyles. The mean anterior intercondylar distance and posterior intercondylar distance were measured as 15.39±7 and 35.60±8.4 mm, respectively. Variations of occipital condyle shapes were kidney like (34.4%), S-like (25.6), triangular (13.3%) oval (10.0%), ring like (7.8%), eight like (6.7%) and deformed (2.2%) respectively. The condylar fossa presented in 60% of dry skull, 24% in right side and 36% in left side and also the condylar foramen was found in 60% of the specimens studied. There was no relation between the circumference of the head and the length of OC but we found relation between the circumference of the head and the width of OC (0.527) and foramen magnum circumference (0.433). The OC and FM are the main bony structures obstructing the surround of the brainstem. The differences in the size and the shape of occipital condyle have some differences and also similarities among racial subgroups. The posterior condylar vein may act asymmetrically. The correlation of the size of foramen magnum with the width of occipital condyles shows the importance of occipital condyle for lateral movements besides antero-posterior movements.
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