Single-cell transcriptomics reveals the long-term high-fat diet impairs male reproduction by disrupting spermatogenesis in pubertal mice

This study used a mouse model with high-fat diet as the research subject, and scRNA-seq to systematically analyze the transcriptional dynamic changes of cells in mouse testicular tissue. The results showed that a high-fat diet significantly increased the body weight of mice, induced disordered arrangement and enlarged intercellular spaces of spermatogenic cells in the testes.

It also leads to a decreased testicular index and a significant reduction in the number of spermatogenic cells. In addition, the high-fat diet significantly improved the mRNA levels of Espn and Lsm10 genes in testicular tissue, and the apoptosis pathway in testicular tissue was significantly enriched, with weakened intercellular interaction intensity. This study provided experimental evidence for analyzing the molecular mechanism of male reproductive damage mediated by high-fat diet and related intervention strategies.