Multi-omics investigation of the mechanism underlying castration-induced subcutaneous fat deposition in male mice

Abstract

Obesity is a global epidemic that threatens public health. Castration promotes the deposition of subcutaneous fat. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The gut microbiota and their associated metabolites may regulate castration-induced subcutaneous fat deposition. In this study, we found surgical castration significantly increased subcutaneous fat deposition, adipocyte size, and fatty acid abundance in mice. Castration affected the β diversity of cecal bacteria and changed the interaction between bacteria and fungi. Castration enhanced cecal glycerolipid metabolism, which was significantly positively correlated with clavispora, Galactomyces, Ligilactobacillus, Adlercreutzia, Anaerovorax, Christensenella, and the Prevotellaceae NK3B3l group. Castration enhanced the abundance of glycerol, sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and lipoteichoic acid in the serum, which influenced the expression of Gpat4, Lpin1, Gpat3, Gpam, Akr1b10, Agpat1, and Akr1a1 in the subcutaneous fat. These genes were involved in glycerolipid metabolism and the regulation of lipid droplet formation. Furthermore, they showed a significant positive correlation with subcutaneous fat weight. Gene set enrichment analysis confirmed that castration enhanced lipid droplet storage and fatty acid synthesis in the subcutaneous fat. These results confirm that glycerolipid metabolism regulates subcutaneous fat deposition in mice after castration from the gut-serum-subcutaneous fat axis.