Microcystin-leucine arginine (MC-LR) induced inflammatory response in bovine sertoli cell via TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway

•Induction of inflammation in bovine sertoli cells by Microcystin-LR was proposed.•TLR4/NF-kB signaling pathway is involved in MC-LR toxicity and inflammatory response.•Inflammatory response resulted to sertoli cell apoptosis.•Proinflammatory cytokines upregulation resulted to blood-testis barrier proteins downregulation. Sertoli cells were treated with 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 μg/L of MC-LR to investigate its toxic effects, mechanism of action and immune response of the cells. Our results revealed that treatment containing 20 μg/L of MC-LR was non-toxic to the cells. Treatments containing 40, 60 and 80 μg/L of MC-LR reduced the cell viability, induced nuclear morphological changes and downregulated the blood-testis barrier constituent proteins within 48 h after treatment. The toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kB) were activated and significantly (P