Reproductive parameters and mitochondrial evaluation in men from the north of Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Franco, José Pedro Reis Costa
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/36613
• topic: Male fertility; Seminal parameters; Sperm mitochondria; Spermiogram; Spermatozoa

Infertility is a condition estimated to exist in 15% of the human population worldwide, that is, 186 million individuals live with infertility. Among these, cases of male factor infertility comprise about half of the cases and is the sole cause in a third of these cases. Male infertility may be caused by physiological, physical, genetic, or unknown origin. The first line of investigation of male reproductive problems is through the analysis of sperm parameters, namely the concentration of spermatozoa in the seminal fluid, their motility, and morphology. One of the ways to circumvent fertility or subfertility problems is through the assisted reproduction technology (ART) resource, in which the analysis of sperm parameters may be decisive in choosing the best technique. Thus, this project aimed to evaluate sperm parameters and mitochondrial viability as a function of age and body mass index (BMI) of men seeking fertility treatments in northern Portugal. For this we collected some patient data (age, weight and height), performed the analysis of sperm parameters to all samples and evaluated the Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) of sperm by the JC-1 assay. According to the samples collected for this work, we saw that most men seeking fertility treatments in the north of Portugal are overweight, which may have implications for the fertility rate. We also observed a negative correlation between the percentage of progressive sperm motility and increasing age in men over 35 years of age. However, in this same age group we observed a positive correlation between sperm concentration and age, with no correlations with the total number of spermatozoa in the samples. In the age group up to 35 years, we observed negative correlations between seminal volume and pH with the BMI of men. In the age group up to 35 years, we observed negative correlations between seminal volume and pH with the BMI of men. We also detected a positive correlation between men's age and sperm MMP, which may indicate that younger men's mitochondria may be more damaged than older men, which could be explained by some current lifestyle factors. In conclusion, advance age and overweight in men can be considered important factors in the degradation of seminal parameters with possible severe consequences to male fertility.