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Mitochondrial Function and Male Infertility

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Genetics of Male Infertility

Abstract

Spermatozoa are motile cells specifically designed to transfer the paternal genetic material across a challenging spatial route to an ovum. The importance of sperm motility to fertility has been firmly established. In this chapter, we address the central role that sperm mitochondria play in providing the energy necessary for the generation of motility by summarizing the metabolic pathways for both anaerobic (glycolytic) and aerobic (mitochondrial) generation of ATP. We stress the importance of the glycolytic-metabolic end products being essential metabolic substrates for the mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation, where ATP production is dramatically escalated. The anomaly and duality of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and their interplay in ensuring functional oxidative phosphorylation, are discussed by illustrating how single-point or serial mutations have the ability to infer male infertility. In this regard, the balance of redox reactions is therefore crucial in preventing oxidative stress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa

    David Fisher & Ralf Henkel

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  1. David Fisher
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  2. Ralf Henkel
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Correspondence to Ralf Henkel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

    Mohamed Arafa

  2. Department of Urology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

    Haitham Elbardisi

  3. Department of Urology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

    Ahmad Majzoub

  4. Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Ashok Agarwal

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Fisher, D., Henkel, R. (2020). Mitochondrial Function and Male Infertility. In: Arafa, M., Elbardisi, H., Majzoub, A., Agarwal, A. (eds) Genetics of Male Infertility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37972-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37972-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37971-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37972-8

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