Abstract
Obesity is a well-established cause of reduced fertility and semen quality in men. Current evidence suggests that Sancai Lianmei granules (SCLM) effectively improve sexual function and semen quality in diabetic patients, while the gut microbiota can influence disease metabolism through various mechanisms. However, the effect of SCLM on the obesity-induced decrease in semen quality and on the gut microbiota is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of SCLM on spermatogenic function and gut microbiota in obese mice. Obese mice were induced by a high-fat diet, and lipid metabolism, spermatogenic function, inflammatory factors, oxidative stress, and autophagy were analyzed to determine the effects of SCLM and SCLM-fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT). In addition, changes in the gut microbiota of mice were analyzed. SCLM and SCLM + FMT could effectively reduce the levels of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL); decrease the expression of oxidative stress products malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxyde-oxyguanosine (8-OHdG); and increase sperm density and sperm viability in obese mice while inhibiting the inflammatory responses and excessive cellular autophagy, indicating that SCLM and SCLM + FMT exerted a protective effect on spermatogenic functions. Furthermore, SCLM affected the gut microbiota composition in mice. This study determined that obesity can lead to reduced sperm motility and affect the composition of the gut microbiota, while SCLM can regulate blood lipids in mice directly or indirectly by regulating gut microbiota changes, and may improve sperm motility in obese mice by reducing oxidative stress and autophagy. In addition, FMT enhanced this effect, which may be related to the diversity of gut microbiota.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- SCLM :
-
Sancai Lianmei granules
- TCM :
-
Traditional Chinese medicine
- FMT :
-
Fecal microbiota transplantation
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Funding
This work was supported by the Science and Technology Plan Project of Sichuan Province (Key Research and Development Project, No. 2022YFS0411); Sichuan Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Scientific Research Project (No. 2021MS023); Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau Technological Innovation R&D Project (No. 2019-YF05-00064-SN); and 2022 national famous and old Chinese medicine expert Zhang Shuwu inheritance studio construction project (2100601-Chinese medicine (Ethnic medicine) special).
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YX, QC, and PG conceived and designed the research. YX, YT, and DZ performed most of the experiments and wrote the paper. YC and SF displayed the photographs and revised the paper. LZ and XZ performed parts of the experiments. YX, YT, and DZ analyzed the data. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
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Xia, Y., Tian, Y., Zhou, D. et al. Gut microbiota involved in spermatogenic function of Sancai Lianmei granules in obese mice. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 396, 83–97 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-022-02296-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-022-02296-2