Obesity‐induced oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction negatively affect sperm quality

• Published in: FEBS open bio Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 763 - 778
• Main Authors: Jing, Jia, Peng, Yuanhong, Fan, Weimin, Han, Siyang, Peng, Qihua, Xue, Chunran, Qin, Xinran, Liu, Yue, Ding, Zhide
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: abdominal fat; Adenosine Triphosphate - metabolism; Animals; Body weight; catalase; Enzymatic activity; enzyme activity; fat intake; Fertility; Glutathione peroxidase; High fat diet; high‐fat diet (HFD); Humans; Infertility; Infertility, Male - etiology; Infertility, Male - metabolism; Insulin resistance; Kinases; lipid content; Male; male fertility; male sterility; malondialdehyde; Membrane potential; metabolic diseases; Metabolic disorders; Mice; Mitochondria; Mitochondria - metabolism; mitochondrial membrane; Obesity; Obesity - metabolism; Overweight; Overweight - metabolism; Oxidative Stress; Phosphorylation; protein synthesis; Reactive oxygen species; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Semen; Semen - metabolism; seminal plasma; Sperm; Sperm Motility; sperm quality; Spermatogenesis; Spermatozoa - metabolism; Structure-function relationships; Superoxide dismutase; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; testes; United States > US; China; Japan; sperm; mitochondria; obesity; oxidative stress; high-fat diet (HFD)
• ISSN: 2211-5463; 2211-5463
• DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.13589

Obesity is a systemic metabolic disease that can induce male infertility or subfertility through oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to determine how obesity impairs sperm mitochondrial structural integrity and function, and reduces sperm quality in both overweight/obese men and mice on a high‐fat diet (HFD). Mice fed the HFD demonstrated higher body weight and increased abdominal fat content than those fed the control diet. Such effects accompanied the decline in antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in testicular and epidydimal tissues. Moreover, malondialdehyde (MDA) content significantly increased in sera. Mature sperm in HFD mice demonstrated higher oxidative stress, including increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and decreased protein expression of GPX1, which may impair mitochondrial structural integrity and reduce mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and ATP production. Moreover, cyclic AMPK phosphorylation status increased, whereas sperm motility declined in the HFD mice. Clinical studies demonstrated that being overweight/obese reduced SOD enzyme activity in the seminal plasma and increased ROS in sperm, accompanied by lower MMP and low‐quality sperm. Furthermore, ATP content in the sperm was negatively correlated with increases in the BMI of all clinical subjects. In conclusion, our results suggest that excessive fat intake had similar disruptive effects on sperm mitochondrial structure and function, as well as oxidative stress levels in humans and mice, which in turn induced lower sperm motility. This agreement strengthens the notion that fat‐induced increases in ROS and impaired mitochondrial function contribute to male subfertility. A high‐fat diet‐induced obese mouse model and clinical samples were employed to characterize the role of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in defective spermatozoa function. Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) damaged mitochondrial structure and decreased the membrane potential, which resulted in detrimental feedback. Decreased ATP production and increased AMPK phosphorylation could contribute to declined sperm quality and ultimately male subfertility.