Obesity and sperm quality: effect of physical exercise and ghrelin

MACHUCA D; GUANTAY P; TORRES PJ; RAMÍREZ N; ARJA A; MARTINI AC; LUQUE EM

Córdoba

Jornada; XXIV Jornada de investigación científica; 2023

Obesity (Ob) is the most prevalent metabolic disease worldwide. It is described as a situation of “meta-inflammation”, with dyslipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and premature mortality among others. Our hypothesis was that “in rats, physical exercise (Exc) and/or Ghrelin (Ghrl) improve the metabolic profile and sperm quality altered by obesity”. To do this, applying an obesogenic diet (ObD= pelleted food +30% pork fat +water with 5% fructose) from weaning (day 21), we set out to study the evolution of body weight in male Wistar rats and, in adulthood, the metabolic profile, visceral fat and sperm quality. It was also evaluated whether the application of Exc (walking on standardized wheels, 15 min/day, 3 day/week from day 65 to 103) and/or Ghrl (6 nmol/animal/day s.c. from day 85 to 103), modified these results. Animals were divided in 5 groups: a) control diet (CD): pelletd food+ water, b) ObD, c) ObD+Ghrl, d) ObD+Exc and e) ObD+Ghrl+Exc. The results were evaluated by common ANOVA or repeated measures, considering p<0,05 as significant, n=7 animals/group.As we expected, ObD increased significantly body weight evolution (day103) (ObD=406,6±5,8g vs CD=334,3±10,4g) and visceral fat (ObD=12,4±0,7g vs CD=6,6±0,6g), also altering the lipid profile of the animals (total cholesterol: ObD=79,1±4,9mg/dl vs CD=51,4±2,5mg/dl; triglycerides: ObD=130,7±9,7mg/dl vs CD=79,1±4,9; LDL: ObD=27,5±4,9mg/dl vs CD=11,9±2,2mg/dl). The Exc (ObD+Exc) significantly reverted these negative effects (corporal weight=356.7 ±15,4g; visceral fat=7,71±0,85g; cholesterol=66,8±3,0mg/dl; triglycerides=56,1±4,3mg/dl); but not Ghrl. Exc and Ghrl (together or separately) significantly increase sperm concentration (CD=25,3±0,7 x106/ml; ObD+Exc=24,5±2,2x106/ml; ObD+Ghrl=26,4±2,7x106/ml; ObD+Ghrl+EXC=24,4±1x106/ml vs ObD=18,8±0,7x106/ml) and sperm motility (CD=57,9±3,14%, ObD+Exc=53,3±3,6%; ObD+Ghrl=58,1±3,2%; ObD+Ghrl+EXC=59,2±3,8% vs ObD=44,2±3,4%) altered by obesity. In conclusion, regular Exc was very effective in reversing all the negative effects of obesity; Ghrl was to sperm quality. The combination of both treatments did not show more effective results than Exc (or Ghrl, in the case of sperm quality) for itself.