Obesity induced by a high-fat diet is associated with changes in the expression levels of Dnmt3b and Dnmt3l proteins in mouse testes.

Context Obesity, a metabolic syndrome that results in excess fat accumulation in the body, is one of the most common diseases today, and its molecular background remains unclear. Studies have shown that a high-fat diet-induced obesity can cause changes in gene expression by affecting epigenetics in germ cells. Aims Our study aims to show the changes in DNA methyltransferase 3b (Dnmt3b) and DNA methyltransferase 3l (Dnmt3l) in the testes of obese C57BL/6 mice fed with a high-fat diet. Methods The presence and quantitative differences of Dnmt3b and Dnmt3l enzymes in the testes of C57BL/6 mice fed with a high-fat diet were demonstrated using the immunohistochemistry and Western blotting method. Key results Our findings showed that high-fat diet-induced obesity led to a significant upregulation of Dnmt3b expression levels in the mice testes. In contrast, Dnmt3l expression was dramatically downregulated in the testes of high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Specifically, a significant increase in the expression level of Dnmt3b was observed in the all testicular cells of high-fat diet group compared with the control group, whereas on the contrary, a decrease in the expression level of Dnmt3l was observed only in spermatogonium and spermatocytes. Conclusions High-fat diets altered the expression levels of Dnmt3b and Dnmt3l proteins in the testes of mice. Implications We think that our results have important value in showing the effects of obesity on spermatogenesis and may bring a new perspective to obesity-related male infertility treatments.