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The Interplay between Androgen and Gut Microbiota: Is There a Microbiota-Gut-Testis Axis

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Abstract

The gut microbiota, a large ecosystem interacting with the host, has been shown to affect the health and fitness of the host-microbial superorganism. Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota communicates with distal organs of the host including the brain, liver, and muscle, as well as testis, through various complex mechanisms. So far, we know that the androgen can markedly remodel the gut microbiota and has initiated an interdisciplinary field termed “microgenderome.” More recently, the gut microbiota has been found as a major regulator of androgen production and metabolism in turn and even could trespass the blood-testis barrier (BTB) to regulate spermatogenesis, which largely updates the current knowledge on male reproduction. In this review, we provided a brief overview of the context of the gender bias of diseases related to gut microbiota, the sex dimorphism of gut microbiota, and their relationships with androgen. We also summarized the known interaction between the testis and gut microbiota based on published animal studies and tentatively discussed the hypothesis of microbiota-gut-testis axis. Finally, we highlighted the opportunities and challenges underlying the ongoing research. This knowledge may extend our understanding of the role of gut microbiota in male health and microbiota-related diseases.

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Data Availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

XL and CD are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81971314) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong province (grant no. 2018B030311039).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology and Andrology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Xiangping Li & Chunhua Deng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Wei Cheng

  3. Precision Medicine Institute, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Haitao Shang & Hong Wei

Authors
  1. Xiangping Li
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  2. Wei Cheng
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  3. Haitao Shang
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  4. Hong Wei
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  5. Chunhua Deng
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Contributions

Chunhua Deng and Hong Wei designed the structure of the review. Xiangping Li analyzed the literature and drafted the manuscript. Wei Cheng and Haitao Shang prepared the pictures and tables and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chunhua Deng.

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Li, X., Cheng, W., Shang, H. et al. The Interplay between Androgen and Gut Microbiota: Is There a Microbiota-Gut-Testis Axis. Reprod. Sci. 29, 1674–1684 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-021-00624-0

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