Obesity or Overweight, a Chronic Inflammatory Status in Male Reproductive System, Leads to Mice and Human Subfertility

• DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2017.01117
• Publication Date: 2018-01-03T23:45:31Z
• Authors: Weimin Fan; Yali Xu; Yue Liu; Zhengqing Zhang; Liming Lu; Zhide Ding
• Keywords: Reproductive system

Obesity is frequently accompanied with chronic inflammation over the whole body and always associated symptoms that include those arising from metabolic vascular alterations. On other hand, inflammatory status in male genital tract may directly impair spermatogenesis even subfertility. However, it still unclear if induced by obesity damages tract. To address this question, we used a high fat diet (HFD) obese mouse model recruited patients clinic. We detected increased levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing-3 (NLRP3) tissues including testis, epididymis, seminal vesicle, prostate, serum mice. Meanwhile, immunoglobulin G (IgG) corticosterone were significantly higher than control group serum. Moreover, signal factors regulated TNF-α, i.e., p38, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated (ERK), their phosphorylated status, inflammasome protein NLRP3 expressed at testis. For overweight patients, TNF-α IL-6 also observed plasma. Furthermore, there was positive correlation between BMI whereas they inversely correlated sperm concentration motility. In conclusion, impairment fertility stem individuals.