SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein is Associated With Lower Testosterone Levels: An Experimental Study

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art_CARRASCO_SARSCoV2_Nucleocapsid_Protein_is_Associated_With_Lower_Testosterone_2022.PDF (874.83 KB)
Citações na Scopus
8
Tipo de produção
article
Data de publicação
2022
DOI
Scopus
Web of Science
PubMed
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título do Volume
Editora
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
Autores
BARBOSA, Ana Paula
BOMFIM, Camila Gasque
FERNANDES, Bianca Helena Ventura
ACHOA FILHO, Kamal
Citação
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY, v.13, article ID 867444, 8p, 2022
Projetos de Pesquisa
Unidades Organizacionais
Fascículo
Resumo
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents an extra burden in the majority of public and private health systems worldwide beyond the most pessimistic expectations, driving an urgent rush to develop effective vaccines and effective medical treatments against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The Nucleocapsid structural viral protein is remarkably immunogenic and hugely expressed during infection. High IgG antibodies against Nucleocapsid protein (N protein) levels were detected in the serum of COVID-19 patients, confirming its pivotal antigen role for a T lymphocyte response in a vaccine microenvironment. Currently, adverse events associated with immunizations have raised some degree of concern, irrespective of its huge benefits in dealing with disease severity and decreasing mortality and morbidity. This hitherto study evaluates histological changes in rats' testes, epididymis, prostate, and seminal vesicles and analyzes hormone levels after solely N protein inoculation. Therefore, we exposed a group of Lewis rats to weekly injections of the recombinant N protein for 28 days, while a control group was inoculated with a buffer solution. The N group revealed a more significant number of spermatozoa. Spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules were counted in twenty 400 x microscopy fields (mean of 9.2 vs. 4.6 in the control group; p < 0,01), but significantly lower testosterone levels (mean of 125.70 ng/dl vs. 309,00 ng/dl in the control group; p < 0,05) were found. No other histological and biochemical changes were displayed. Conclusively, these data suggest testicular hormonal imbalance mediated by the SARS-CoV-2 N protein that could be linked to reported post-COVID-19 syndrome hypogonadism. More relevant research might be performed to confirm this viral antigen's deleterious mechanism in the human testicular microenvironment, particular in Leydig cell function.
Palavras-chave
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, nucleocapsid, testis, testosterone, hypogonadism
URI
https://observatorio.fm.usp.br/handle/OPI/48561
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Coleções
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - FM/MPT
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - COVID-19
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - FM/MCM
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - HC/ICHC
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - HC/InCor
Artigos e Materiais de Revistas Científicas - LIM/03
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