Associative relationship between sperm motility, oxidative stress and cytokines

Abstract

Infertility is one of the most urgent medical and social problems in the whole world. Male factors of infertility reach 50% of all cases. Approximately 7% of men worldwide suffer from infertility. Spermatozoa are extremely vulnerable to oxidative damage since their membranes are enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acids and do not have repair systems. Oxidative stress leads to damage to axonemes and an increase in morphological defects in the middle part of spermatozoa, which leads to a decrease in their mobility. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between sperm motility, the activity of the glutathione antioxidant system and the concentration of cytokines. The study group included 68 healthy men who were divided into two subgroups according to the percentage of motile spermatozoa after one hour: low motility (LM, n=32) and high motility (HM, n=36). The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) was 1.3 times (p<0.05) higher in the LM group compared to the HM group. Similarly, the mean values of IL-1β, IL-18, IFN-γ, and TNF-α were higher in the LM group than in the HM group. At the same time, the concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β1 in both studied groups were not significantly different. The results of this study showed that the percentage of motile sperm after 1 hour was negatively correlated with the levels of IL-1β, IL-18 and TNFα. No significant correlation was found between age and sperm motility. Lower sperm motility in healthy men is associated with reduced glutathione content and lower glutathione peroxidase and increased cytokine levels, which may be associated with increased oxidative stress in seminal plasma as evidenced by increased MDA levels. Thus, our study demonstrates the relationship between sperm motility, the state of pro-/antioxidant and antioxidant systems, and concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines. Keywords: sperm plasma, oxidative stress, fertility, glutathione.