Overweight and Fertility: What We Can Learn from an Intergenerational Mouse Obesity Model

Dušan Fabian, Janka Kubandová-Babeľová, Martina Kšiňanová, Iveta Waczulíková, Kamila Fabianová and Juraj Koppel
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Dušan Fabian: Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Šoltésovej 4/6, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Janka Kubandová-Babeľová: Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Šoltésovej 4/6, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Martina Kšiňanová: Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 840 05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Iveta Waczulíková: Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Mlynská dolina F1, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovakia
Kamila Fabianová: Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Neurobiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Šoltésovej 4/6, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia
Juraj Koppel: Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Šoltésovej 4/6, 040 01 Košice, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of being overweight on the ability to conceive, fertilization rate, and in vivo development of embryos in regularly cycling, spontaneously ovulating, and naturally mated female mice. The study was based on statistical analysis of data collected during 14 experiments with identical design, performed on 319 control and 327 obese mice, developed in an intergenerational model of obesity induction which eliminates the impact of aging and high-fat feeding. Six-week-old mice with a vaginal sperm plug were slaughtered on embryonic days 2, 3, or 4, and the flushed contents of the oviducts and uteri were assessed by stereomicroscopy. The results showed no association between being overweight and the proportion of ovulating or fertilized females. On the other hand, a strong association was found between being overweight and ovulation yield. On embryonic day 2, significantly higher numbers of eggs were recovered from the oviducts of fertilized obese mice. Maternal overweight status was also associated with higher developmental capacities of preimplantation embryos. In conclusion, contrary to studies based on the high-fat-diet model, in female mice fed regular chow, being overweight was associated with an increased ovulation quota and higher developmental rate of fertilized oocytes. Being overweight did not impact ability to conceive. On the other hand, as documented in our previous studies, the quality of oocytes and blastocysts recovered from overweight mice developed in an intergenerational model of obesity was low.

Keywords: overweight; female mouse; ovulation yield; fertilization rate; preimplantation development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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