Ethanol-related transcriptomic changes in mouse testes

• Published in: BMC genomics 2024-08, Vol.25 (1), p.793-11
• Main Authors: Han, Gwidong, Lee, Seung Jae, Hong, Seung Pyo, Song, Jaeho, Cho, Chunghee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetaldehyde; Alcohol; Alcohol use; Alcohol, Denatured; Alcoholism; Animals; Drinking of alcoholic beverages; Ethanol; Ethanol - pharmacology; Forkhead protein; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene sequencing; Gene set enrichment analysis; Genes; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Infertility, Male; Liver; Male; Male reproductive system; Males; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Mice; Motility; Physiological aspects; Physiological effects; Risk factors; RNA; RNA sequencing; Sequence analysis; Sperm; Sperm Count; Sperm motility; Sperm Motility - drug effects; Spermatogenesis; Spermatozoa - drug effects; Spermatozoa - metabolism; Testes; Testis; Testis - drug effects; Testis - metabolism; Transcriptome - drug effects; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 1471-2164; 1471-2164
• DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10696-2

Alcohol consumption is widely known to have detrimental effects on various organs and tissues. The effects of ethanol on male reproduction have been studied at the physiological and cellular levels, but no systematic study has examined the effects of ethanol on male reproduction-related gene expression. We employed a model of chronic ethanol administration using the Lieber-DeCarli diet. Ethanol-fed mice showed normal testicular and epididymal integrity, and sperm morphology, but decreased sperm count. Total RNA sequencing analysis of testes from ethanol-fed mice showed that a small fraction (∼ 2%) of testicular genes were differentially expressed in ethanol-fed mice and that, of these genes, 28% were cell-type specific in the testis. Various in silico analyses were performed, and gene set enrichment analysis revealed that sperm tail structure-related genes, including forkhead box J1 (Foxj1), were down-regulated in testes of ethanol-fed mice. Consistent with this result, ethanol-fed mice exhibited decreased sperm motility. This study provides the first comprehensive transcriptomic profiling of ethanol-induced changes in the mouse testis, and suggests gene expression profile changes as a potential mechanism underlying ethanol-mediated reproductive dysfunction, such as impaired sperm motility.