Open Access
ARTICLE
Elemental sulfur upregulated testicular testosterone biosynthesis by associating with altered gut microbiota in mice
YUAN BI1,2,#, TIANQI LI2,#, HONGJIE PAN2, MING GUO2, LIANGKANG CHEN2, QI QI1, MEIXIN ZHANG2, LINGLING ZHANG2, LININ YU2, XIAOFENG WAN2, HUAJUN ZHENG2,*, RUNSHENG LI2,*
1 School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
2 NHC Key Laboratory of Reproduction Regulation (Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research), Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
* Address correspondence to: Huajun Zheng, ; Runsheng Li,
# These authors contributed equally to this work
BIOCELL 2020, 44(3), 301-313. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2020.011208
Received 26 April 2020; Accepted 19 May 2020; Issue published 22 September 2020
Abstract
Elemental sulfur has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine to treat the late-onset hypogonadism and
impotence without a clarified mechanism for many hundreds of years. In the present study, mice were received sulfur
or distilled water for 35 days by daily intragastric gavage at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight. Then, the serum
testosterone level and genes associated with testicular testosterone biosynthesis (TTB) were detected. The gut
microbiota was also analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Serum testosterone level was significantly increased by
291.1% in sulfur-treated mice. The H
2S levels in serum and feces were significantly increased. The expression of genes
associated with TTB including
StAR,
p450c17,
3β-HSD, and
P450scc in testes were significantly upregulated by Sulfur
and NaHS, suggesting that sulfur promotes TTB depending on H
2S. In addition, sulfur increased the diversity of gut
microbiota and the abundance of several bacteria associated with sulfur metabolism, including genus
Prevotella, which
might be positively associated with serum level of testosterone in boys. Five pathways including bile secretion,
carotenoid biosynthesis, lipid biosynthesis proteins, propanoate metabolism, and biosynthesis of type II polyketide
products, were identified to associate with sulfur. Together, our results suggested that sulfur upregulated testicular
testosterone biosynthesis via H
2S, which was associated with alteration of gut microbiota in mice. Our study
highlights a mechanism for the treatment of late-onset hypogonadism and impotence by sulfur.
Keywords
Cite This Article
BI, Y., LI, T., PAN, H., GUO, M., CHEN, L. et al. (2020). Elemental sulfur upregulated testicular testosterone biosynthesis by associating with altered gut microbiota in mice.
BIOCELL, 44(3), 301–313.