Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disrupter which has adverse effects on male reproduction. Aquaporins (AQPs), well known water-selective channels, play important roles in spermatogenesis and sperm functions. However, whether AQPs participate in the process that BPA induces abnormal sperms has not been investigated to date. In the present study, adult male rare minnows Gobiocypris rarus were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations BPA (15 and 225 μg/L) for 1, 2 and 3 weeks. Results showed that BPA exposure disrupted sperm motility, increased the percentage of abnormal sperm cells, and decreased sperm tolerance to hypotonic solution and sperm fertilization capacity. Meanwhile, protein levels of AQPs were up-regulated, and their distribution in the testis was abnormal following BPA exposure. The following chromatin immune coprecipitation showed that BPA could regulate aqp3 and 8 expression through the ERE in their 5′-flanking region. The present study demonstrated that BPA could decrease the sperm quality in rare minnow, and AQP3 and 8 might play significant roles in this process.

双酚A（BPA）是一种内分泌干扰物，会对男性生殖产生不利影响。水通道蛋白（AQPs），众所周知的水选择通道，在精子发生和精子功能中起重要作用。但是，迄今为止，尚未调查AQP是否参与BPA诱导异常精子的过程。在本研究中，成年雄性小min鱼Gobiocypris rarus暴露于环境相关浓度的BPA（15和225μg/ L）1、2和3周。结果表明，BPA暴露会破坏精子活力，增加精子异常细胞的百分比，并降低精子对低渗溶液的耐受性和精子受精能力。同时，APA暴露后，AQPs的蛋白质水平上调，并且在睾丸中的分布异常。以下染色质免疫共沉淀表明，BPA可以通过ERE在其5'侧翼区域调节aqp3和8的表达。本研究表明，双酚A可能会降低稀有min鱼的精子质量，而AQP3和8在此过程中可能起重要作用。