Alterations in the sexual maturation, spermatogenesis and spermatozoa quality in male offspring caused by maternal overweight

RHON CALDERÓN, ERIC A.; GALARZA, ROCÍO A.; FALETTI, ALICIA G.; BLANCO, MARTÍN I.

Beijing

Congreso; 17th International Congress of Endocrinology from International Society of Endocrinology; 2016

International Society of Endocrinology

Obesity and overweight are associated with increased likelihood of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, which is why an appropriate maternal body weight is needed for a proper fetal programming.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to study the effect of the maternal overweight/obesity ongeneral and sexual parameters on male offspring.METHODS: Weaning females fed ad libitum with standard diet (SD) or with cafeteria diet with high lipid content (CD) were used. When these animals reached the expected overweight, they were mated with males fed with SD. The offspring (C: from SD mothers; D: from CD mothers) were fed with SD. Body weight and length, anogenital distance and glycemia were recorded. The offspring were euthanized on day 60 (when we considered a reach of sexual maturity) and testes and epididymis were obtained. The results were divided considering the percentage of maternal overweight (26% and 36% higher than SD). Testicular and epididymis weight, sperm cell count (as millions of sperm cells per ml, from the caudal region of one of the epididymis) and sperm morphology (identify as normal and different types of abnormalities) were examined.RESULTS: Compared with C, D offspring exhibited an increase in body weight (29%, p