Aging and the Brown Norway Rat Leydig Cell Antioxidant Defense System

Previous studies have shown that testosterone production by the Leydig cells of aged Brown Norway rats is reduced from the relatively high levels produced by Leydig cells of young rats and that this reduction is not secondary to decreased serum luteinizing hormone concentration. The free radical theory of aging proposes that imbalance between pro-oxidants and the antioxidant defense system ultimately results in oxidative damage to cellular processes. With this in mind, we hypothesized herein that age-related reductions in steroidogenesis by Brown Norway rat Leydig cells may be associated with the impairment of the antioxidant defense system of these cells. To begin to test this hypothesis, we compared the activities and steady-state mRNA and protein levels of the antioxidant enzymes copper zinc (CuZn) superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD, SOD1), manganese (Mn) superoxide dismutase (MnSOD, SOD2), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and the levels of reduced and oxidized glutathione in Leydig cells isolated from the testes of young (4-month-old) and aged (20-month-old) Brown Norway rats. For some studies, Leydig cells were isolated separately from aged testes that either had regressed because of age-related losses of germ cells or that were nonregressed. SOD (total) and GPx activities were found to decrease significantly with age whether or not the testes were regressed. CuZnSOD and MnSOD mRNA levels decreased with aging, though the magnitude of the decreases were considerably lower than the respective decreases in enzyme activities. GPx mRNA levels also decreased, which is consistent with the decreases seen in enzyme activity. MnSOD protein expression declined with age, and to a lesser extent, CuZnSOD did as well. Reduced and oxidized glutathione also exhibited age-related reductions in cells from both normal and regressed aged testes. The age-related decreases in Leydig cell antioxidant enzyme activities, gene expression, and protein levels and in glutathione were consistent with the hypothesis that the loss of steroidogenic function that accompanies Leydig cell aging may result in part from a decrease in the fidelity of the cellular antioxidant defense system.