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Decreased very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in sperm correlates with sperm quantity and quality

  • Gamete Biology
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To determine if levels of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFA; ≥ 28 carbons;4-6 double bonds) in human sperm correlate with sperm quantity and quality as determined by a complete semen analysis.

Methods

Ejaculates from 70 men underwent a complete semen analysis, which included volume, count, motility, progression, agglutination, viscosity, morphology, and pH. For lipid analysis, sperm were pelleted to remove the semen. Lipids were extracted from the cell pellet and methyl esters of total lipids analyzed by gas chromatography. The sphingolipids were enriched and sphingomyelin (SM) species measured using tandem mass spectrometry. Pair-wise Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis compared percent VLC-PUFA-SM and percent docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to results from the semen analysis.

Results

VLC-PUFA-SM species having 28–34 carbon fatty acids were detected in sperm samples, with 28 and 30 carbon VLC-PUFA as most the abundant. The sum of all VLC-PUFA-SM species comprised 0 to 6.1% of the overall SM pool (mean 2.1%). Pair-wise Pearson analyses showed that lower levels of VLC-PUFA-SM positively correlated with lower total motile count (0.68) and lower total count (0.67). Total VLC-PUFA-SM and mole % DHA (22:6n3) were not strongly correlated (− 0.24). Linear regression analysis confirmed these findings.

Conclusion

This study revealed a positive correlation between the levels of VLC-PUFA with sperm count and total motile count and suggests that both sperm quality and quantity may depend on the presence of VLC-PUFA. The lack of correlation between VLC-PUFA and DHA suggests that low VLC-PUFA levels do not result from inadequate PUFA precursors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sonny Icks of the Dean McGee Eye Institute for his invaluable assistance with all matters related to IRB approvals and updates. We also thank Michelle Scruggs, RN, and Kisha Turner, RN, for their assistance in recruitment, consenting, and data management. And finally, we thank Dr. Sixia Chen for statistical assistance.

Funding

This work was supported by the Presbyterian Health Foundation Team Science Grant (L.B.C, R.EA and M-P.A), the National Institutes of Health Grants EY04149 (R.E.A.) and P30EY021725 (R.E.A); an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s Department of Ophthalmology; OU College of Medicine Alumni Association, BrightFocus Foundation, and Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology to M-P.A; and the Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Translational Resource Institute (NIGMS U54 GM104938).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, PO Box 26901, AAT 2400, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126, USA

    LaTasha B. Craig & Michael T. Zavy

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Richard S. Brush, Michael T. Sullivan, Martin-Paul Agbaga & Robert E. Anderson

  3. Dean A. McGee Eye Institute, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Richard S. Brush, Michael T. Sullivan, Martin-Paul Agbaga & Robert E. Anderson

  4. Department of Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Martin-Paul Agbaga & Robert E. Anderson

Authors
  1. LaTasha B. Craig
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  2. Richard S. Brush
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  3. Michael T. Sullivan
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  4. Michael T. Zavy
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  5. Martin-Paul Agbaga
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  6. Robert E. Anderson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to LaTasha B. Craig.

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Conflict of interest

LB Craig, MT Sullivan, and MT Zavy declare that they have no conflicts of interest. RS Brush, MP Agbaga and RE Anderson have a US Patent for biological synthesis of VLC-PUFA (United States Patent 8,021,874 B2).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Research involved human participants. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to initiating the trial.

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Craig, L.B., Brush, R.S., Sullivan, M.T. et al. Decreased very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in sperm correlates with sperm quantity and quality. J Assist Reprod Genet 36, 1379–1385 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01464-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-019-01464-3

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