Effects offish oil on testicular function in mice with dextran sulfate sodium-induced intestinal inflammation.

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been increasing, and it is more common in adults between 20-39 years old. Few studies have investigated the effects of intestinal inflammation on reproductive function. Fish oil is rich in n-3 fatty acid, which can modulate inflammatory responses. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of fish oil on testicular function in mice with intestinal inflammation induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into the control, DSS-induced intestinal inflammation, intestinal inflammation with low content and high content fish oil groups. After 2 weeks of treatment, the intestinal inflammation groups received drinking water containing 2% DSS for 5 days, and mice were sacrificed after having normal water for another 5 days. The results showed that mice with intestinal inflammation resulted in increased levels of proinflammatory cytokine in colon lavage fluid (CLF), poor testicular spermatogenesis, downregulated protein expressions of enzymes responsible for testosterone biosynthesis, lower GPx activity and upregu-lated expressions of Bax, Bcl-xl, Caspase 3, IL-6 and NF-κB. Fish oil supplementation significantly decreased proinflammatory cytokine levels in CLF. Despite having no effect on spermatogenesis, testosterone biosynthesis enzymes were upregulated; however, expressions of apoptosis and inflammation proteins didn't differ significantly. In conclusion, mice with intestinal inflammation have elevated intestinal inflammatory mediator production, impaired testicular function, increased testicular oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation. Fish oil supplementation significantly reduced intestinal inflammatory mediator production, and slightly alleviated testicular function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]