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Lipid Metabolism is Closely Associated with Normal Testicular Growth Based on Global Transcriptome Profiles in Normal and Underdeveloped Testis of Obese Zucker (fa/fa) Rats

  • Original Article
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Lipids

Abstract

Zucker (fa/fa) obese rats often have non-identical and differently sized paired testes, leaving one testis underdeveloped. Our earlier study found that the underdeveloped testes, > 30% smaller than the normal ones, have a selective decrease in docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-6), a dominant fatty acid in the testes. This study was conducted to examine global testicular transcriptome profile in underdeveloped testes relative to developed ones using Rat Gene 2.0 ST Array (Affymetrix, USA). Testes were obtained from 14-week-old, sexually mature male obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats. Out of the 1790 transcripts differentially expressed, 1108 and 682 were over-expressed in the underdeveloped and normal testis, respectively (fold change ≥ 2 and P < 0.05). The ingenuity pathway analysis indicated that transcripts that were under-expressed in the underdeveloped testis, relative to the normal testes, are involved in triacylglycerol biosynthesis, sphingomyelin metabolism and phosphatidylglycerol biosynthesis. Transcripts that were over-expressed in underdeveloped testes, relative to normal testis, are involved in the production of nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species, and nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 mediated oxidative stress responses. These data indicate that genes involved in lipid metabolism and oxidative stress play a crucial role in testicular growth and the maintenance of testical health.

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Abbreviations

AA:

Arachidonic acid

AGPAT1-3:

Acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase 1-3

AKT1V:

akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1

A2M:

Alpha-2-macroglobulin

APOE:

Apolipoprotein E

CDH2:

Cadherin 2, type 1, N-cadherin (neuronal)

CGT:

Ceramide galactosyltransferase

C7:

Complement component 7

C1S:

Complement component 1, s subcomponent

CDH2:

N-cadherin (neuronal)

CST:

Cerebroside sulfotransferase

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

DGAT2:

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase

DPA:

Docosapentaenoic acid

FABP:

Fatty acid bining protein

ELOVL-2:

Elongation of very long chain fatty acids protein 2

FADS-2:

Fatty acid desaturase 2

GSN:

Gelsolin

IL33:

Interleukin 33

IPA:

Ingenuity pathway analysis

LPCAT4:

Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 4

NCBI:

National Centre for Biotechnology Information

NFKB:

Nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells 1

NRF2:

Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2

OMP:

Olfactory marker protein

OSMR:

Oncostatin M receptor

PLIN2:

Perilipin

PLPLA2:

Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 2

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

RBL2:

Retinoblastoma-like 2

RNA:

Ribonucleic acid

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RXR:

Retinoid X receptor

SGMS1:

Sphingomyelin synthase 1

SMPD2:

Sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 2

SORD:

Sorbitol degradation

TAF7L:

TAF7-like RNA polymerase II

TBX2:

T-box 2

TNF:

Tumor necrosis factor

TNFRSF1A:

Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, member 1A

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ms. Lena Hong for letting us use samples for the study, and Sally Li and June Lee for assisting tissue collection. This study was supported by the University of Manitoba Research Grant Program and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of the Canada Discovery Bridge Funding Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Jutika Datar, Alemu Regassa, Carla G. Taylor, Peter Zahradka & Miyoung Suh

  2. Department of Poultry Science, University of Georgia, Georgia, USA

    Woo-Kyun Kim

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    Carla G. Taylor & Peter Zahradka

  4. Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine, St. Boniface Albrechtsen Research Centre, Winnipeg, MB, R2H 2A6, Canada

    Carla G. Taylor, Peter Zahradka & Miyoung Suh

Authors
  1. Jutika Datar
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  2. Alemu Regassa
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  3. Woo-Kyun Kim
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  4. Carla G. Taylor
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  5. Peter Zahradka
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  6. Miyoung Suh
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Contributions

JD and AR equally ran the microarray, analysed the data and prepared the manuscript. AR is the co-first author. WKK was a co-investigator, by providing financial support for the microarray experiment. CGT and PZ designed the animal study. MS was the principal investigator, provided financial support and directed the overall studies. All authors read, edited and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miyoung Suh.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

11745_2017_4298_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary material 1 (XLSX 121 kb) Supplemental file 1: List of genes over-expressed in underdeveloped testes relative to normal testes

11745_2017_4298_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary material 2 (XLSX 80 kb) Supplemental file 2: List of genes under-expressed in underdeveloped testes relative to normal testes

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Datar, J., Regassa, A., Kim, WK. et al. Lipid Metabolism is Closely Associated with Normal Testicular Growth Based on Global Transcriptome Profiles in Normal and Underdeveloped Testis of Obese Zucker (fa/fa) Rats. Lipids 52, 951–960 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-017-4298-2

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