BackgroundThe aim of this work was to investigate the mechanisms by which chronic malnutrition (CM) affects vas deferens function, leading to compromised reproductive capacity. Previous studies have shown that maternal malnutrition affects the reproductive tracts of adult male offspring. However, little is known about the effects of CM, a widespread life-long condition that persists from conception throughout growth to adult life.Methodology/Principal FindingsYoung adult male rats, which were chronically malnourished from weaning, presented decreased total and haploid cells in the vas deferens, hypertrophy of the muscle layer in the epididymal portion of the vas deferens and intense atrophy of the muscular coat in its prostatic portion. At a molecular level, the vas deferens tissue of CM rats exhibited a huge rise in lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation, evidence of an accentuated increase in local reactive oxygen species levels. The kinetics of plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase activity and its kinase-mediated phosphorylation by PKA and PKC in the vas deferens revealed malnutrition-induced modifications in velocity, Ca2+ affinity and regulation of Ca2+ handling proteins. The severely crippled content of the 12-kDa FK506 binding protein, which controls passive Ca2+ release from the sarco(endo) plasmic reticulum, revealed another target of malnutrition related to intracellular Ca2+ handling, with a potential effect on forward propulsion of sperm cells. As a possible compensatory response, malnutrition led to enhanced sarco(endo) plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase activity, possibly caused by stimulatory PKA-mediated phosphorylation.Conclusions/SignificanceThe functional correlates of these cellular and molecular hallmarks of chronic malnutrition on the vas deferens were an accentuated reduction in fertility and fecundity.

Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that placental undernutrition impairs reproduction in adult offspring, but the underlying molecular mechanisms within the male genital tract remain unknown. Due to its special physiological characteristics in transport and the modulation of the environment to which its luminal content is exposed, we hypothesized that the vas deferens would be a highly sensitive target. The goals were to investigate whether intrauterine malnutrition affects molecular mechanisms related to Ca2+- and oxidative stress-modulated processes and causes structural alterations in the adult rat vas deferens that could attenuate fecundity and fertility. Male adult rats malnourished in utero had increased vas deferens weight associated with thickening of the muscular coat, a decrease in the total and haploid germ cells, a marked increase in the immature cells, and a decline in the numbers of pregnant females and total offspring per male rat. The ex vivo response of vas deferens from malnourished rats demonstrated an accentuated decrease in the contractile response to phenylephrine. The vas deferens had a marked decrease in Ca2+ transport due to the uncoupling of Ca2+-stimulated ATP hydrolysis and ATP-driven Ca2+ flux, and the downregulation of both sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2 and the coupling factor 12-kDa FK506-binding protein. An increase in protein carbonylation (a marker of oxidative damage) and an imbalance between protein kinases C and A were observed as a legacy of undernutrition in early life. These results provide the structural and molecular basis to explain at least in part how maternal undernutrition affects fecundity and fertility in adult male rats.