Maternal energy insufficiency affects testicular development of the offspring in a swine model

• Published in: Scientific reports 2019-10, Vol.9 (1), p.14533-15, Article 14533
• Main Authors: Lin, Yan, Xu, Xue-Yu, Wu, De, Lin, Hao, Fang, Zheng-Feng, Feng, Bin, Xu, Sheng-Yu, Che, Lian-Qiang, Li, Jian, Zhuo, Yong, Wu, Cai-Mei, Zhang, Jun-Jie, Dong, Hong-Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; 13/2; 13/51; 38/43; 631/1647/2217/2218; 631/443/494; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Apoptosis; Birth weight; Body Weight; Caloric Restriction; Cell Proliferation; Computational Biology; Energy; Energy Intake; Female; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Library; Gestation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Laboratories; Leydig cells; Leydig Cells - metabolism; Lipid Metabolism; Male; MAP kinase; Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Metabolism; multidisciplinary; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition research; Offspring; Oxidative phosphorylation; Phosphorylation; Pregnancy; Pregnancy, Animal; Puberty; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sertoli Cells - metabolism; Signal Transduction; Swine; Testes; Testis - embryology; Testis - growth & development; TOR protein; Transcriptome
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-51041-y

We determined the effects of insufficient maternal energy on testicular development in offspring in a swine model. Thirty-six sows were divided into control (CON) and low-energy diet (LE) groups during gestation. We observed that the number of Sertoli, germ, and Leydig cells in the offspring of the CON group were significantly higher than those in the LE group at 28 and 120 d after birth. Furthermore, the percentage of apoptotic testis cells was significantly higher in the offspring of the LE group than in the CON group. Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs and long noncoding RNAs in offspring testes indicated that these RNAs were mainly involved in lipid metabolism, apoptosis, cell proliferation, and some pivotal regulatory pathways. Results revealed that AMPK–PI3K–mTOR, MAPK, and oxidative phosphorylation signaling pathways play an important role in mediating the programming effect of insufficient maternal energy on testicular development, and that this effect occurs mainly at an early stage in life. mRNA and protein expression analyses confirmed the importance of certain signaling pathways in the regulation of testicular development. This study provides insights into the influence and possible mechanism underlying the effect of inadequate maternal energy intake on testicular development in the offspring.