High-fat diet alters the radiation tolerance of female mice and the modulatory effect of melatonin

High-fat diet (HFD) increases the risk of developing malignant tumors. Ionizing radiation (IR) is used as an adjuvant treatment in oncology. In this study, we investigated the effects of an 8-week 35% fat HFD on the tolerance to IR and the modulatory effect of melatonin (MLT). The results of lethal dose irradiation survival experiments revealed that the 8-week HFD altered the radiation tolerance of female mice and increased their radiosensitivity, whereas it had no comparable effects on males. Pre-treatment with MLT was, however, found to attenuate the radiation-induced hematopoietic damage in mice, promote intestinal structural repair after whole abdominal irradiation (WAI), and enhance the regeneration of Lgr5+ intestinal stem cells. 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and untargeted metabolome analyses revealed that HFD consumption and WAI sex-specifically altered the composition of intestinal microbiota and fecal metabolites and that MLT supplementation differentially modulated the composition of the intestinal microflora in mice. However, in both males and females, different bacteria were associated with the modulation of the metabolite 5-methoxytryptamine. Collectively, the findings indicate that MLT ameliorates the radiation-induced damage and sex-specifically shapes the composition of the gut microbiota and metabolites, protecting mice from the adverse side effects associated with HFD and IR.