In mammals, the reproductive system and autoimmunity regulate mutual functions. Importantly, systemic autoimmune diseases are thought to cause male infertility but the underlying pathological mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the morpho-function of the testes in BXSB/MpJ-Yaa mice was analyzed as a representative mouse model for systemic autoimmune diseases to investigate the effect of excessive autoimmunity on spermatogenesis. At 12 and 24 weeks of age, BXSB/MpJ-Yaa mice showed splenomegaly and increased levels of serum autoantibodies, whereas no controls showed a similar autoimmune condition. In histological analysis, the enlarged lumen of the seminiferous tubules accompanied with scarce spermatozoa in the epididymal ducts were observed in some of the BXSB/MpJ-Yaa and BXSB/MpJ mice but not in C57BL/6N mice. Histoplanimetrical analysis revealed significantly increased residual bodies and apoptotic germ cells in the seminiferous tubules in BXSB/MpJ-Yaa testes without apparent inflammation. Notably, in stage XII of the seminiferous epithelial cycles, the apoptotic germ cell number was remarkably increased, showing a significant correlation with the indices of systemic autoimmune disease in BXSB/MpJ-Yaa mice. Furthermore, the Sertoli cell number was reduced at the early disease stage, which likely caused subsequent morphological changes in BXSB/MpJ-Yaa testes. Thus, our histological study revealed the altered morphologies of BXSB/MpJ-Yaa testes, which were not observed in controls and statistical analysis suggested the effects of an autoimmune condition on this phenotype, particularly the apoptosis of meiotic germ cells. BXSB/MpJ-Yaa mice were shown to be an efficient model to study the relationship between systemic autoimmune disease and the local reproductive system.

中文翻译：

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BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 系统性自身免疫性疾病小鼠模型显示生精上皮周期 XII 期凋亡生殖细胞增加

在哺乳动物中，生殖系统和自身免疫调节相互的功能。重要的是，系统性自身免疫性疾病被认为会导致男性不育，但潜在的病理机制尚不清楚。在这项研究中，分析了 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 小鼠睾丸的形态功能，作为系统性自身免疫性疾病的代表性小鼠模型，以研究过度自身免疫对精子发生的影响。在 12 和 24 周龄时，BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 小鼠表现出脾肿大和血清自身抗体水平升高，而没有对照组表现出类似的自身免疫状况。在组织学分析中，在一些 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 和 BXSB/MpJ 小鼠中观察到生精小管腔增大，附睾管中精子稀少，但在 C57BL/6N 小鼠中未观察到。组织学分析显示 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 睾丸生精小管中残留的小体和凋亡的生殖细胞显着增加，没有明显的炎症。值得注意的是，在生精上皮周期的 XII 阶段，凋亡的生殖细胞数量显着增加，与 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 小鼠的全身性自身免疫性疾病指标显着相关。此外，在疾病早期，支持细胞数量减少，这可能导致 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 睾丸随后的形态变化。因此，我们的组织学研究揭示了 BXSB/MpJ-Yaa 睾丸的形态改变，这在对照中未观察到，统计分析表明自身免疫状况对这种表型的影响，特别是减数分裂生殖细胞的凋亡。