Exploring the impact of lipid stress on sperm cytoskeleton: insights and prospects.

The decline in male fertility correlates with the global rise in obesity and dyslipidaemia, representing significant public health challenges. High-fat diets induce metabolic alterations, including hypercholesterolaemia, hepatic steatosis and atherosclerosis, with detrimental effects on testicular function. Testicular tissue, critically dependent on lipids for steroidogenesis, is particularly vulnerable to these metabolic disruptions.

Cholesterol dynamics in rabbit liver: High-fat diet, olive oil, and synergistic dietary effects.

Background & Aims: Lipid metabolism disorders contribute to a range of human diseases, including liver-related pathologies. Rabbits, highly sensitive to dietary cholesterol, provide a model for understanding the development of liver disorders. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein isoform 2 (SREBP2) crucially regulates intracellular cholesterol pathways.

Extra-virgin olive oil ameliorates high-fat diet-induced seminal and testicular disorders by modulating the cholesterol pathway.

Background: Rabbits are sensitive to dietary cholesterol and rapidly develop hypercholesterolemia, leading to prominent subfertility. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein isoform 2 drives the intracellular cholesterol pathway in many tissues, including the testicles. Its abnormal regulation could be the mainly responsible for the failure of suppressing cholesterol synthesis in a cholesterol-enriched environment, ultimately leading to testicular and seminal alterations.

Impact of high fat diet on the sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 cholesterol pathway in the testicle.

Male fertility has been shown to be dependent on cholesterol homeostasis. This lipid is essential for testosterone synthesis and spermatogenesis, but its levels must be maintained in an optimal range for proper testicular function. In particular, sperm cells' development is very sensitive to high cholesterol levels, noticeably during acrosomal formation.

Pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) expression in the male tract of Wistar rats.

Pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF) expression has been described in many organs as showing neurotrophic, anti-angiogenic, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and pro-cell survival properties. However, references to its activity in the male reproductive system are scarce. We aimed to characterize the expression of PEDF in the male reproductive tract of Wistar rats by using RT-PCR, western blot and immunostaining and also evaluate the effect of flutamide in PEDF expression.

Manchette-acrosome disorders and testicular efficiency decline observed in hypercholesterolemic rabbits are recovered with olive oil enriched diet.

High-fat diet is associated with hypercholesterolemia and seminal alterations in White New Zealand rabbits. We have previously reported disorders in the development of the manchette-acrosome complex during spermiogenesis and decreased testicular efficiency in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. On the other hand, olive oil incorporated into the diet improves cholesterolemia and semen parameters affected in hypercholesterolemic rabbits.

Manchette-acrosome disorders during spermiogenesis and low efficiency of seminiferous tubules in hypercholesterolemic rabbit model.

Hypercholesterolemia is a marker for several adult chronic diseases. Recently we demonstrated that sub/infertility is also associated to Hypercholesterolemia in rabbits. Seminal alterations included: abnormal sperm morphology, decreased sperm number and declined percentage of motile sperm, among others.

Semen quality and sperm function loss by hypercholesterolemic diet was recovered by addition of olive oil to diet in rabbit.

Fat increment (0.05% cholesterol, chol) in standard diet promoted a significant increase in serum and sperm membrane chol, which ultimately altered membrane-coupled sperm specific functions: osmotic resistance, acrosomal reaction, and sperm capacitation in White New Zealand rabbits. These changes were also associated with a reduction in motility percentage and appearance of abnormal sperm morphology.

Characterization of flagellar cysteine-rich sperm proteins involved in motility, by the combination of cellular fractionation, fluorescence detection, and mass spectrometry analysis.

Mammalian sperm proteins undergo thiol group (SH) oxidation to form disulfides bonds (SS) as they travel through the epididymis during cell maturation. Disulfide bonds are involved in chromatin condensation and tail organelle stabilization. In this work, we used a fluorescent thiol-selective labeling agent, monobromobimane (mBBr), to study the protein thiol status of rat sperm during maturation.

Hypercholesterolemia impaired sperm functionality in rabbits.

Hypercholesterolemia represents a high risk factor for frequent diseases and it has also been associated with poor semen quality that may lead to male infertility. The aim of this study was to analyze semen and sperm function in diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Twelve adult White New Zealand male rabbits were fed ad libitum a control diet or a diet supplemented with 0.

Protein fraction isolated from epididymal fluid re-associates sperm in vitro: possible role of serpins in rat rosettes assembly.

In many mammalian species, sperm associate as a consequence of the epididymal transit. From the classic Rouleaux in guinea pig to the most recent work in mouse and echidna, authors have focused mainly on a detailed morphological description of this phenomenon. Some of these articles have also begun to describe the nature of the material present between sperm heads.