A chronic high-fat diet causes sperm head alterations in C57BL/6J mice

FUNES, A.; DELLA VEDOVA, M.C.; GOMEZ MEJIBA, S.E.; SANTILLAN, L.D.; CABRILLANA, M.E.; FORNES, M.W.; SAEZ LANCELLOTTI, T.E.; MONCLUS, M.A.; RAMIREZ, D.C.

Heliyon

ELSEVIER

Año: 2019 vol. 5

2405-8440

A chronic-positive energetic balance has been directly correlated with infertility in men, but the involvedmechanisms remain unknown. Herein we investigated weather in a mouse model a chronic feeding with a dietsupplemented with chicken fat affects sperm head morphology. To accomplish this, we fed mice for 16 weeks witheither control food (low-fat diet, LFD) or control food supplemented with 22% chicken fat (high-fat diet, HFD). Atthe end of the feeding regimen, we measured: redox and inflammatory changes, cholesterol accumulation in testisand analyzed testicular morphological structure and ultra-structure and liver morphology. We found that the micefed HFD resembled some features of the human metabolic syndrome, including systemic oxidative stress andinflammation, this group showed an increment in the following parameters; central adiposity (adiposity index:1.07 0.10 vs 2.26 0.17), dyslipidemia (total cholesterol: 153.3 2.6 vs 175.1 8.08 mg/dL), insulinresistance (indirect Insulin resistance index, TG/HDL-c: 2.94 0.33 vs 3.68 0.15) and fatty liver. Increasedcholesterol content measured by filipin was found in the testicles from HFD (fluorescence intensity increase to50%), as well as an alteration of spermiogenesis. Most remarkably, a disorganized manchette-perinuclear ringcomplex and an altered morphology of the sperm head were observed in the spermatozoa of HFD-fed mice. Theseresults add new information to our understanding about the mechanisms by which systemic oxidative stress andinflammation may influence sperm-head morphology and indirectly male fertility.