Supporting data for “The pathological damage in testicular tissue of Syrian golden hamster associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection”

The role of SARS-CoV-2 in pathogenesis of male testicular damage remained largely unknown and our study aimed to explore more about how testes interacted with SARS-CoV-2 in hamster model. In this study, we discovered that the infection of SARS-CoV-2 BA.5 variant would cause chronic testicular degeneration changes which included the decreasing of testicular weight, size and abnormal serum sex hormone as well as degeneration and apoptosis in seminiferous tubules of Syrian golden hamsters. Furthermore, testicular tissue would not support productive SARS-CoV-2 infection. Interestingly, immune complex deposition could be found in the testes of SARS-CoV-2 infection hamsters which indicated autoimmune might play a critical role on the testicular damage.

SARS-CoV-2在男性睾丸损伤发病机制中的作用尚属未知领域，本研究旨在深入探讨睾丸与SARS-CoV-2在仓鼠模型中的相互作用。在本研究中，我们揭示了SARS-CoV-2 BA.5变异株的感染将导致慢性睾丸退行性病变，包括睾丸重量、体积的减少，以及血清性激素水平的异常，以及叙利亚金仓鼠的生精小管中的退行性变和细胞凋亡。此外，睾丸组织无法支持SARS-CoV-2的繁殖性感染。值得注意的是，在SARS-CoV-2感染仓鼠的睾丸中发现了免疫复合物的沉积，这表明自身免疫可能在睾丸损伤中扮演着至关重要的角色。