title: Effects of obesity and exercise on testicular leptin signal transduction and testosterone biosynthesis in male mice.
abstract: To explore the role of the testicular leptin and JAK-STAT[leptin (LEP)-JAK-STAT] pathway in testosterone biosynthesis during juvenile stages and exercise for weight loss, male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into normal-diet and high-fat diet groups. After 10 wk, mice in the high-fat diet-fed group were further divided randomly into obese control, obese moderate-volume exercise, and obese high-volume exercise groups. Mice in the obese moderate-volume exercise group were provided with 2 h/day, 6 days/wk swimming exercise for 8 wk, and mice in the obese high-volume exercise group underwent twice the amount of daily exercise intervention as the obese moderate-volume exercise group. The results showed that a high-fat diet causes obesity, leptin resistance, inhibition of the testicular LEP-JAK-STAT pathway, decreased mRNA and protein expression of steroidogenic factor-1, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, and theP-450 side-chain cleavage enzyme, a decrease in the serum testosterone-to-estradiol ratio, and declines in sperm quality parameters. Both moderate and high-volume exercise were able to reduce body fat and increase the mRNA and protein expression of LEP-JAK-STAT, but only moderate exercise significantly increased the mRNA and protein expression of steroidogenic factor-1, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, andP-450 side-chain cleavage enzyme and significantly reversed the serum testosterone-to-estradiol ratio and sperm quality parameters. These findings suggest that by impairing the testicular LEP-JAK-STAT pathway, early-stage obesity inhibits the biosynthesis of testosterone and sexual development and reduces male reproductive potential. Long-term moderate and high-volume exercise can effectively reduce body fat and improve obesity-induced abnormalities in testicular leptin signal transduction, whereas only moderate-volume exercise can reverse the negative impacts of obesity on male reproductive function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors.forename: Xuejie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors.forename: Haining
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China; and.
authors.forename: Dequan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8244-0207
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: PE College of Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Donghui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors.forename: Wanting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors.forename: Tie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China; changbo8387@163.com.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1024-0695
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D020738:Leptin / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods; D005082:Physical Exertion; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D020738:Leptin; D013739:Testosterone
keywords: exercise; high-fat diet-induced obesity; hypoandrogenism; leptin-Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling pathway; steroidogenic enzyme