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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Ameliorates Sperm Parameters in Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice Testes by Attenuating Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

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Abstract

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is a member of apolipoprotein (apo) family and plays critical role in lipid metabolism. In this study, the relationship between abnormal lipid metabolism caused by ApoE-deficient and male reproduction was investigated. The effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on 7-month-old ApoE-knockout male mice was assessed subsequently. Mice were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group (WT), ApoE (− / −) group (AP-CON), and ApoE (− / −) plus HBO group (AP-HBO), which received HBO treatment. We found that ApoE knockout caused a decrease in male reproductive capacity due to the reduced total sperm motility, progressive motility (PR), and lower blastocyst formation rate. HBO treatment could accelerate serum lipoprotein metabolism including LDL, T-CHO, and TG and semen quality. As a result, fertilization and blastocyst formation of AP-HBO group were higher than that of AP-CON, proving positive therapeutic effect. Mechanism exploration found that HBO treatment ameliorated the testicular microenvironment by attenuating inflammatory factor production and oxidative stress, eventually improved the sperm motility. Collectively, our study provided more evidences of HBO treatment for improving the semen quality of patients with abnormal lipid metabolism caused by ApoE-deficient.

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Acknowledgements

HBO treatment was performed at the in the Neurorehabilitation Department of Changzhou Second People’s Hospital. We thank all participants for their cooperation in the treatment process.

Funding

This study was supported by Changzhou Sci & Tech Program (20210110), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (81803498), and the Science Foundation of Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Changzhou Second People’s Hospital (2022K007).

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Author notes

  1. Xia Chen and Jiaping Wang are co-correspondence authors and contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Reproduction, The Affiliated Changzhou No. 2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 68 Gehu Road, Jiangsu, 213003, Changzhou, China

    Huijun Liu, Danni Wang, Yang Ma, Huiting Sun, Yichao Shi, Jiaping Wang & Xia Chen

  2. Laboratory of Neurological Diseases, The Affiliated Changzhou No. 2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, 213003, Jiangsu, China

    Linxiao Wang

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  1. Huijun Liu
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Correspondence to Jiaping Wang or Xia Chen.

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The animal study was conducted according to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Nanjing Medical University and approved by Changzhou No.2 People’s Hospital Ethics Committee.

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Liu, H., Wang, D., Ma, Y. et al. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Ameliorates Sperm Parameters in Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice Testes by Attenuating Oxidative Stress and Inflammation. Reprod. Sci. 30, 2252–2262 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-022-01158-9

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