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Updated: Jul 12, 2025
Author Spotlight: Studying the Impact of Maternal Dietary Deficiencies on Long-Term Offspring Health Outcomes
Published on: June 28, 2024
High-Salt Diet Causes Defective Oocyte Maturation and Embryonic Development to Impair Female Fertility in Mice
Qinyuan He1,2,3, Qiutong Zheng1,4, Yanping Liu5
1Institute for Fetology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, China.
Scope:
High salinity has been reported to induce many human disorders in tissues and organs to interfere with their normal physiological functions. However, it is unknown how salinity affects the development of female germ cells. This study suggests that a high-salt diet (HSD) may weaken oocyte quality to impair female fertility in mice and investigates the underlying mechanisms.
Methods And Results:
C57BL/6 female mice are fed with a regular diet (Control) or a high-salt diet (HSD). Oocyte maturation, fertilization rate, embryonic development, and female fertility are evaluated. In addition, the spindle organization, actin polymerization, and kinetochore-microtubule attachment of oocytes are examined in both groups. Moreover, single-cell transcriptome data are used to demonstrate how HSD alters the transcript levels of genes. The observations confirm that HSD leads to female subfertility due to the deterioration of oocyte and embryo quality. The mechanism underlying reveals HSD compromises the oocytes' autophagy, apoptosis level, and mitochondrial function.
Conclusion:
The work illustrates that a high concentration of salt diet results in oocyte meiotic arrest, fertilization failure, and early developmental defection that embryos undergo to reduce female fertility in mice by perturbing the level of autophagy and apoptosis, mitochondrial function in oocytes.
Insights
A high-salt diet (HSD) impairs female fertility in mice by weakening oocyte quality. This study reveals HSD disrupts oocyte autophagy, apoptosis, and mitochondrial function, leading to subfertility.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Biology
- Toxicology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- High salinity is linked to human disorders.
- The impact of salinity on female germ cell development remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how a high-salt diet (HSD) affects oocyte quality and female fertility in mice.
- To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of HSD-induced reproductive impairment.
Main Methods:
- Mice were fed either a regular diet (Control) or a high-salt diet (HSD).
- Evaluated oocyte maturation, fertilization, embryonic development, and female fertility.
- Assessed oocyte spindle organization, actin polymerization, kinetochore-microtubule attachment, and mitochondrial function.
- Utilized single-cell transcriptome data to analyze gene expression changes.
Main Results:
- HSD significantly reduced female fertility and embryo quality.
- Oocytes from HSD-fed mice exhibited compromised autophagy, increased apoptosis, and impaired mitochondrial function.
- Transcriptome analysis revealed alterations in gene expression related to cellular stress and reproductive processes.
Conclusions:
- A high-salt diet impairs female fertility by negatively impacting oocyte quality.
- HSD disrupts oocyte autophagy, apoptosis, and mitochondrial function, leading to meiotic arrest and developmental defects.
- These findings highlight the detrimental effects of high salinity on female reproductive health.
