Metabolic Syndrome and Reproduction.

Francesco Lotti,Giovanni Corona,Mario Maggi,Sara Marchiani

doi:10.3390/ijms22041988

Francesco Lotti, Giovanni Corona + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22041988

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Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) and infertility are two afflictions with a high prevalence in the general population. MetS is a global health problem increasing worldwide, while infertility affects up to 12% of men. Despite the high prevalence of these conditions, the possible impact of MetS on male fertility has been investigated by a few authors only in the last decade. In addition, underlying mechanism(s) connecting the two conditions have been investigated in few preclinical studies. The aim of this review is to summarize and critically discuss available clinical and preclinical studies on the role of MetS (and its treatment) in male fertility. An extensive Medline search was performed identifying studies in the English language. While several studies support an association between MetS and hypogonadism, contrasting results have been reported on the relationship between MetS and semen parameters/male infertility, and the available studies considered heterogeneous MetS definitions and populations. So far, only two meta-analyses in clinical and preclinical studies, respectively, evaluated this topic, reporting a negative association between MetS and sperm parameters, testosterone and FSH levels, advocating, however, larger prospective investigations. In conclusion, a possible negative impact of MetS on male reproductive potential was reported; however, larger studies are needed.

Highlights

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) represents a cluster of abnormalities, including abdominal obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol and hypertension, which identifies subjects at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [1,2,3]
In the same study [56] we reported a positive association between the increase in number of metabolic syndrome (MetS) components and seminal interleukin 8 levels, a marker of prostate inflammation [80,81,82], and with prostate volume and signs of inflammation evaluated with color-Doppler ultrasound [81,82,83,84], which represent other factors closely related to MetS [41,42,85]
We found that MetS induced a decrease in the expressteroidogenesis was considered, we found that MetS induced a decrease in the expression sion of all the genes related to testosterone formation [90,91]

Summary

Introduction

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) represents a cluster of abnormalities, including abdominal obesity, impaired glucose metabolism, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol and hypertension, which identifies subjects at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) [1,2,3]. The prevalence of MetS worldwide varies greatly, ranging from 8% to 67% [1,3,4,5]. This high variation depends upon a combination of genetic, biological (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity) and social factors (e.g., urbanization, education level, socioeconomic status) as well as on the lack of globally accepted criteria defining.

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