Microbiology Spectrum (Oct 2022)

Gut-Testis Axis: Microbiota Prime Metabolome To Increase Sperm Quality in Young Type 2 Diabetes

  • Xiaowei Yan,
  • Yanni Feng,
  • Yanan Hao,
  • Ruqing Zhong,
  • Yue Jiang,
  • Xiangfang Tang,
  • Dongxin Lu,
  • Hanhan Fang,
  • Manjree Agarwal,
  • Liang Chen,
  • Yong Zhao,
  • Hongfu Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01423-22
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 5

Abstract

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ABSTRACT Young type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects 15% of the population, with a noted increase in cases, and T2D-related male infertility has become a serious issue in recent years. The current study aimed to explore the improvements of alginate oligosaccharide (AOS)-modified gut microbiota on semen quality in T2D. The T2D was established in young mice of 5 weeks of age with a blood glucose level of 21.2 ± 2.2 mmol/L, while blood glucose was 8.7 ± 1.1 mM in control animals. We discovered that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) of AOS-improved microbiota (A10-FMT) significantly decreased blood glucose, while FMT of gut microbiota from control animals (Con-FMT) did not. Sperm concentration and motility were decreased in T2D to 10% to 20% of those in the control group, while A10-FMT brought about a recovery of around 5- to 10-fold. A10-FMT significantly increased small intestinal Allobaculum, while it elevated small intestinal and cecal Lactobacillus in some extent, blood butyric acid and derivatives and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and testicular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), EPA, and testosterone and its derivatives. Furthermore, A10-FMT improved liver functions and systemic antioxidant environments. Most importantly, A10-FMT promoted spermatogenesis through the improvement in the expression of proteins important for spermatogenesis to increase sperm concentration and motility. The underlying mechanisms may be that A10-FMT increased gut-beneficial microbes Lactobacillus and Allobaculum to elevate blood and/or testicular butyric acid, DHA, EPA, and testosterone to promote spermatogenesis and thus to ameliorate sperm concentration and motility. AOS-improved gut microbes could emerge as attractive candidates to treat T2D-diminished semen quality. IMPORTANCE A10-FMT benefits gut microbiota, liver function, and systemic environment via improvement in blood metabolome, consequently to favor the testicular microenvironment to improve spermatogenesis process and to boost T2D-diminished semen quality. We established that AOS-improved gut microbiota may be used to boost T2D-decreased semen quality and metabolic disease-related male subfertility.

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