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Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid Fully Restores Fertility and Spermiogenesis in the Male Delta‐6‐Desaturase Knockout Mouse
Author(s) -
RoquetaRivera Manuel,
Stroud Chad K.,
Segre Mariangela,
Haschek Wanda M.,
Hess Rex A.,
Agbaga MartinPaul,
Nakamura Manabu T.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.543.7
Subject(s) - spermiogenesis , docosahexaenoic acid , spermatogenesis , biology , docosapentaenoic acid , sperm , sperm motility , andrology , spermatid , arachidonic acid , medicine , polyunsaturated fatty acid , endocrinology , biochemistry , fatty acid , genetics , enzyme
Delta‐6 desaturase (D6D) is the rate limiting enzyme for the synthesis of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs): 20:4n6 arachidonic acid (AA), 22:6n3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and 22:5n6 docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), all of which are abundant in murine spermatozoa. The D6D knockout (‐/‐) mouse, unable to synthesize HUFAs, is infertile by 6 weeks of age due to disrupted spermiogenesis and lack of spermatid elongation. In order to determine which HUFA is essential for spermiogenesis, AIN93G diet supplemented with either 0.2 % (w/w) AA or DHA was fed to wild type (+/+) and D6D ‐/‐ mice at weaning until 16 weeks of age (n=3‐5). Frequency of successful matings of DHA supplemented ‐/‐ (61%) was not statistically different vs +/+ on DHA. The success rate of AA supplemented ‐/‐ (38%) was lower though not significant vs +/+ on AA, but higher than non‐supplemented ‐/‐ (8%, p<0.05). DHA supplemented ‐/‐ had normal sperm count (116% of +/+) and motility, while AA supplemented ‐/‐ had normal sperm motility but significantly lower sperm count (39% of +/+, p < 0.05). Histology of DHA supplemented ‐/‐ showed restored spermiogenesis with mature sperm in epididymis, while AA supplemented ‐/‐ had partially restored spermatogenesis with mature and immature sperm in epididymis. In conclusion, dietary DHA fully restores male reproductive function in ‐/‐. Partial restoration by AA may be due to sparing of DPA from retroconversion to AA. Grant Funding Source Internal