Polyamine metabolism links gut microbiota and testicular dysfunction

Journal：Microbiome

IF：14.650 

On November 11, 2021, Fei Li, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and his team published an article titled "Polyamine Metabolism links Gut Microbiota and Testicular Dysfunction" in Microbiome, which linked alterations in the gut microbiota to testicular dysfunction through disruption of polyamine metabolism.

The kits [ELISA Kit for Luteinizing Hormone (LH), CEA441Mu; ELISA Kit for Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), CEA830Mu] of Cloud-Clone brand was chosed in this article, we are so proud for supporting the reaserchers.

Background: Male fertility impaired by exogenous toxins is a serious worldwide issue threatening the health of the newborn and causing infertility. However, the metabolic connection between toxic exposures and testicular dysfunction remains unclear.

Results: In the present study, the metabolic disorder of testicular dysfunction was investigated using triptolide-induced testicular injury in mice. We found that triptolide induced spermine deficiency resulting from disruption of polyamine biosynthesis and uptake in testis, and perturbation of the gut microbiota. Supplementation with exogenous spermine reversed triptolide-induced testicular dysfunction through increasing the expression of genes related to early and late spermatogenic events, as well as increasing the reduced number of offspring. Loss of gut microbiota by antibiotic treatment resulted in depletion of spermine levels in the intestine and potentiation of testicular injury. Testicular dysfunction in triptolide-treated mice was reversed by gut microbial transplantation from untreated mice and supplementation with polyamine-producing Parabacteroides distasonis. The protective effect of spermine during testicular injury was largely dependent on upregulation of heat shock protein 70s (HSP70s) both in vivo and in vitro.

Conclusions: The present study linked alterations in the gut microbiota to testicular dysfunction through disruption of polyamine metabolism. The diversity and dynamics of the gut microbiota may be considered as a therapeutic option to prevent male infertility.

Fig.1 Polyamine metabolism was suppressed in both testis and gut microbiota following testicular dysfunction

Fig.2 Spermine ameliorated testicular injury

Gastrointestinal diseases mainly refer to general inflflammatory gastrointestinal diseases, peptic ulcer, gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer and irritable bowel syndrome.Generally, inflflammatory gastroenteritis is mainly caused by an external inflflammatory reaction, which destroys the inner epidermal cells of the digestive tract, causing damage to the epidermis and internal stroma in the digestive tract, and exhibits gastrointestinal problems. At the same time, with the damage of endothelial cells and stromal cells, the proteins in the cell matrix can also appear in feces or serum. It is only necessary to detect the content of themarker proteins in these samples, and it is easy to judge the development and severity of the disease. For example, gastric mucosal damage: the levels of pepsin (PP) and gastrin releasing peptide precursor (ProGRP) in feces and serum have increased.The current research results show that the occurrence of gastrointestinal cancer is closely related to long-term inflflammation and genetic factors. During the process of growth, division and migration, cancer cells secrete specifific substances or stimulate the host cells to produce unique substances. These substances become TM (Tumor markers), and the detection of these substances can reflflect cancer.