Wei Shen

Very recent publications in Gut and elsewhere1 2 suggest that gut microbiota affects fertility. The application of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) to modify fertility is an emerging novel area of interest.3 FMT from women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) leads to the disruption of ovarian function and a decrease in fertility which indicates that modification of gut microbiota may be a valuable approach in the management of PCOS.2 FMT of gut microbes, that developed under a high-fat diet, into mice on a normal diet leads to the disruption of spermatogenesis and a reduction of sperm motility,1 which highlights that restoring gut microbiota may be a means of improving disturbed male infertility caused by environmental factors.1 However, to date, there are no reports that address improvements of fertility following FMT. In a recent study,4 we found that busulfan damages spermatogenesis and sperm quality, and disturbs gut microbiota as found in many other studies.5 6 Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), a natural product with many benefits, rescues busulfan disrupted spermatogenesis by supporting gut microbiota through an increase in ‘beneficial’ bacteria4 such as Bacteroidales and Lactobacillaceae and a decrease in ‘harmful’ bacteria, such as Desulfovibrionaceae .7 Gut microbiota from AOS dosed animals may improve spermatogenesis through benefit to the recipients gut microbes. To test this hypothesis, we set out to explore the beneficial improvement of sperm quality and …

: AOS could be used to improve fertility in patients undergoing chemotherapy and to combat other factors that induce infertility in humans.

Dairy goats are one of the most utilized domesticated animals in China. Here, we selected extreme populations based on differential fecundity in two Laoshan dairy goat populations. Utilizing deep sequencing we have generated 68.7 and 57.8 giga base of sequencing data, and identified 12,458,711 and 12,423,128 SNPs in the low fecundity and high fecundity groups, respectively. Following selective sweep analyses, a number of loci and candidate genes in the two populations were scanned independently. The reproduction related genes CCNB2, AR, ADCY1, DNMT3B, SMAD2, AMHR2, ERBB2, FGFR1, MAP3K12 and THEM4 were specifically selected in the high fecundity group whereas KDM6A, TENM1, SWI5 and CYM were specifically selected in the low fecundity group. A sub-set of genes including SYCP2, SOX5 and POU3F4 were localized both in the high and low fecundity selection windows, suggesting that these particular genes experienced strong selection with lower genetic diversity. From the genome data, the rare nonsense mutations may not contribute to fecundity, whereas nonsynonymous SNPs likely play a predominant role. The nonsynonymous exonic SNPs in SETDB2 and CDH26 which were co-localized in the selected region may take part in fecundity traits. These observations bring us a new insights into the genetic variation influencing fecundity traits within dairy goats.

BACKGROUND: Nanoscience and nanotechnology are developing rapidly, and the applications of nanoparticles (NPs) have been found in several fields. At present, NPs are widely used in traditional consumer and industrial products, however, the properties and safety of NPs are still unclear and there are concerns about their potential environmental and health effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential toxicity of ZnO NPs on testicular cells using both in vitro and in vivo systems in a mouse experimental model. METHODS: ZnO NPs with a crystalline size of 70 nm were characterized with various analytical techniques, including ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The cytotoxicity of the ZnO NPs was examined in vitro on Leydig cell and Sertoli cell lines, and in vivo on the testes of CD1 mice injected with single doses of ZnO NPs. RESULTS: ZnO NPs were internalized by Leydig cells and Sertoli cells, and this resulted in cytotoxicity in a time- and dose-dependent manner through the induction of apoptosis. Apoptosis likely occurred as a consequence of DNA damage (detected as γ-H2AX and RAD51 foci) caused by increase in reactive oxygen species associated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. In addition, injection of ZnO NPs in male mice caused structural alterations in the seminiferous epithelium and sperm abnormalities. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that ZnO NPs have the potential to induce apoptosis in testicular cells likely through DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species, with possible adverse consequences for spermatogenesis and therefore, male fertility. This suggests that evaluating the potential impacts of engineered NPs is essential prior to their mass production, to address both the environmental and human health concerns and also to develop sustainable and safer nanomaterials.