Infertility represents a growing burden worldwide, with one in seven couples presenting difficulties conceiving. Amongst these, 10-15% of the men have idiopathic infertility that does not correlate with any defect in the classical sperm parameters measured. In the present study, we used a mouse model to investigate the effects of maternal undernutrition on fertility in male progeny. Our results indicate that mothers fed on a low protein diet during gestation and lactation produce male offspring with normal sperm morphology, concentration and motility but exhibiting an overall decrease of fertility when they reach adulthood. Particularly, sperm from these offspring show a remarkable lower capacity to fertilize oocytes when copulation occurs early in the estrus cycle relative to ovulation, due to an altered sperm capacitation. Our data demonstrate for the first time that maternal nutritional stress can have long-term consequences on the reproductive health of male progeny by affecting sperm physiology, especially capacitation, with no observable impact on spermatogenesis and classical quantitative and qualitative sperm parameters. Moreover, our experimental model could be of major interest to study, explain, and ultimately treat certain categories of infertilities.

中文翻译：

---

母体营养应激会改变雄性小鼠后代的精子能力，从而导致生育力下降

不孕症在世界范围内造成的负担日益增加，每七对夫妇中就有一例受孕困难。其中，有10-15％的男性患有特发性不育，与所测量的经典精子参数的任何缺陷均不相关。在本研究中，我们使用小鼠模型来研究母体营养不良对雄性子代生育力的影响。我们的结果表明，在妊娠和哺乳期间以低蛋白饮食喂养的母亲产生的雄性后代具有正常的精子形态，浓度和运动能力，但到成年后总体上表现出生育力下降。尤其是，由于精子获能能力的改变，当在发情周期中早于交卵发生交配时，来自这些后代的精子受精卵的能力明显降低。我们的数据首次证明，母亲的营养压力可通过影响精子生理，特别是获能，对男性后代的生殖健康产生长期影响，而对精子发生以及经典的定量和定性精子参数没有明显影响。此外，我们的实验模型可能对研究，解释和最终治疗某些类型的不孕症具有重大意义。