STUDY OF THE CELL ALTERATIONS AND THE INTRACELLULAR CHOLESTEROL PATHWAY IN THE TESTIS OF ADULT RABBITS UNDER ACUTE HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA BY FAT DIET. THE REVERSE EFFECT OF OLIVE OIL

FUNES AK; SAEZ LANCELOTTI TE; CABRILLANA ME; COLOMBO R; FORNÉS MW; LOPEZ ME; BARAUNA A; SIMÓN L; MONCLUS MA; CONTE MI

Merlo, San Luis

Congreso; XXXV Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2017

The relationship between hypercholesterolemia and reduced male fertility has been reported previously, but the mechanism involved remains unknown. Olive oil (OO) supplementation improved semen parameters affected by high fat diet. Light and electron microscopy were performed to study cell alterations, and RT PCR and Western blot of SREBPs (Sterol- Regulatory-Binding-Proteins) and its target molecules involved in cholesterol pathway regulation. Under fat diets, light microscopy showed an increment in lipid vacuoles in testis, corroborated by electron microscopy. Within molecular regulation, we investigated the intracellular pathway of cholesterol in rabbit liver and testis under different diets (control; 0.05% cholesterol and protected by 7% OO). After 3 and 6 months of diet the expression of mRNA encoding SREBP-2 and its target molecules showed the expected behavior in liver. Olive oil recovered the level of the main molecules regulating cholesterol pathway (not reported previously). Instead, in testis both protein and mRNA expression for the same molecules did no significantly change at 3 and 6 months of diet. These results suggest that the poor semen quality found in HCR is supported by morphological alterations but in short term, molecular pathway remains intact in testis even though the liver already shows changes.