Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM: To investigate the combined effects of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) on vimentin and α-tubulin in rat sertoli cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rat testicular sertoli cells were isolated, purified and cultured , then treated with the toxins at different doses, DBP(1,10,100 μg/ml), BaP (0.1,1, 10 μg/ml) and DBP＋BaP (1＋0.1,10＋1,100＋10 μg/ml), for 12 h,24 h and 48 h. The vimentin and α-tubulin were measured with immunofluorescence technique. RESULTS: At 24 h, the expressions of vimentin protein in 10 μg/ml DBP group and 1 μg/ml BaP group were decreased significantly (P<0.05), and lower in 100 μg/ml DBP group (P<0.01), 10 μg/ml BaP group (P<0.01) and 100 μg/ml DBP＋10 μg/ml BaP group(P<0.01). At 48 h, the expressions of vimentin protein in middle and high dose of DBP group and BaP group and all three combined groups were obviously decreased, but there was no difference between each combined group and their matched dose group. The expression of α-tubulin protein was increased significantly in 10 μg/ml BaP group(P<0.05) at 24 h and in 100 μg/ml DBP group and each BaP groups at 48 h. CONCLUSION: DBP and BaP could decrease vimentin protein expression and increase α-tubulin protein expression at certain dosages, and their combined effect on these two proteins in rat sertoli cells were antagonistic.

Key words: dibutyl phthalate, benzo(a)pyrene, sertoli cell, vimentin, α-tubulin