Effect of Antidiabetic Drugs in Human Sertoli Cells: Implications for Male Fertility

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Maria João Carvalho Meneses
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/5890
• topic: Células de Sertoli; Espermatogénese; Infertilidade; Metformina; Mitocôndria; Pioglitazona; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Médicas::Ciências Biomédicas

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a pandemic metabolic disease that affects an enormous amount of males at a very early age. It is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, in both developed and in developing countries. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is responsible for the vast majority of DM cases. It comprises individuals who present insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Unlike type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), the main triggering factor of T2DM seems to be the new lifestyle of modern societies rather than genetic factors. The process of production of viable spermatozoa is strictly regulated and dependent of several factors. Any alterations in this process may result in fertility problems in the male. The developing germ cells are dependent on the metabolic cooperation established with the Sertoli cells (SCs), being reliant on the lactate produced by these testicular somatic cells, as energy source. Of the various antidiabetics available in the market, a number of them have a direct action in the individual metabolic homeodynamics. However, its mechanisms of action are different and vary dependent on several factors (e.g. tissue or target cells). In this work, we evaluated the effect of two antidiabetic drugs, pioglitazone and metformin, in human Sertoli cell metabolism (hSCs). Our results suggest that, like metformin, pioglitazone may be a suitable antidiabetic drug for young men and those in reproductive age. These novel findings suggest a possible protective role of pioglitazone to male reproductive function.