ASSESSMENT OF FERTILITY IN MALE MICE CHRONICALLY EXPOSED TO VARIABLE DIETARY OMEGA 3 FATTY ACID LEVELS

WEIGANDT, MAXIMILIANO D.; BIANCONI, SANTIAGO; MOTRICH, RUBEN D.; ZINGERLING, EMILIO

Congreso; REUNIÓN DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS 2020; 2020

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunologia

Background: dietary levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3 PUFA) are reflected in tissue PUFA composition and can influence several processes of mammalian reproductive function. In a previous study, we observed that chronic dietary ω3 PUFA deficiency produced an increase of bending immature sperm forms, which in turn can be harmful to sperm migration and oocyte fertilization. Objectives: to assess the effect of dietary ω3 PUFA level on male reproductive capacity in vivo and the oxidative stress in epididymal sperm. Material and methods: Albino Swiss male mice were exposed to ω3 PUFA Control (soybean oil, 7%), Deficient (sunflower oil, 7%), or Excess (blend oil; 4.2% cod-liver+2.8% soybean) diet before conception until adulthood. Five males per treatment were individually mated to two adult females (n=10 per treatment) fed with commercial pellet. On gestational day 18, dams were euthanized and their uteri and ovaries dissected to assess: number of live and atrophied fetuses, litter weight, number of corpora lutea and embryo loss. Other eight males per treatment were euthanized, and their epididymides dissected to evaluate the sperm production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by chemiluminiscnece. Statistics: ANOVA and LSD post hoc test. Results: no significant differences in the assayed reproductive parameters were found among groups: number of fetuses (F(2,26)= 0.63, P=0.53), atrophied fetuses (F(2,26)=0.08, P=0.92), litter weight (F(2,26)=1.17, P=0.32), corpora lutea (F(2,26)= 0.06, P=0.93) and percentage of embryo loss (F(2,26)= 1.53, P=0.23). Regarding sperm ROS production, no significant differences among experimental groups (n=8 males/treatment) were found (F(2,21)=0.18, P=0.83). Conclusions: these results indicate that bending sperm immaturity in PUFA ω3 deficient mice is not related to higher ROS production and does not affect in vivo fertilization capability. Further investigations are needed to better understand the relevance of dietary PUFA ω3 in male fertility.