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Serum lipid profile levels and semen quality: new insights and clinical perspectives for male infertility and men’s health

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Purpose

Several clinical scenarios regulate the final ejaculated semen, which is pivotal to reproductive success. Sperm motility and plasma membrane fusogenic activity primarily rely on the peculiar sperm lipid composition, influenced by the patient’s metabolism, genetics, nutritional, environmental status, and concomitant clinical entities such as varicocele. This study aimed to determine the relationship between serum lipid profile and testicular function (semen quality and testosterone levels).

Methods

This retrospective study uses medical charts of 278 infertile men who attended andrological care between 2000 and 2019. Seminal analysis data, lipid profile, and total serum testosterone were collected. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of the lipid parameters on the seminal variables. Statistical analyses were carried out with p ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results

Seminal creatine kinase activity (p = 0.024) is negatively related to HDL (p = 0.032) and triglycerides (p = 0.037), while total testosterone (p < 0.0001) and seminal volume (p = 0.046) appeared both to be negatively related to triglycerides (p = 0.030 and p = 0.033, respectively).

Conclusion

Medical advice commonly advocated to prevent endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease and improve HDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels in dyslipidemic patients should also be given to infertile men. Physicians should give patients a thorough assessment, including the blood lipid profile, hormonal status, and routine seminal examinations. We propose a more comprehensive men´s health check-up for the infertile male population, not limited to a simple evaluation of basic sperm parameters.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Androscience, Science and Innovation Center in Andrology and High-Complex Clinical and Andrology Laboratory, for providing laboratorial support, and the Androscience Institute (IA) for technical support.

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, under Grant No. 2019/11179-8.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Androscience-Science and Innovation Center and High Complexity Clinical and Research Andrology Laboratory, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Gustavo Andrade, Ivan Iori, Mariana K. Hsieh, Giovanna Milani, Pedro C. E. Zandoná, Thiago A. Teixeira, Elaine Maria Costa & Jorge Hallak

  2. Men’s Health Study Group, Institute for Advanced Studies, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Thiago A. Teixeira, Elaine Maria Costa & Jorge Hallak

  3. Division of Endocrinology, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Elaine Maria Costa

  4. Faculdade Israelita de Ciências da Saúde Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Mariana K. Hsieh

  5. Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Pedro C. E. Zandoná, Thiago A. Teixeira & Jorge Hallak

  6. Division of Urology, Federal University of Amapa, University Hospital, Macapa, Brazil

    Thiago A. Teixeira

  7. Faculty of Medicine, GReD Institute, CNRS-INSERM-Université Clermont Auvergne, CRBC Building, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Joël R. Drevet

  8. Reproductive Toxicology Unit, Department of Pathology, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Jorge Hallak

Authors
  1. Gustavo Andrade
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  2. Ivan Iori
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  8. Elaine Maria Costa
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  9. Jorge Hallak
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Contributions

Conceptualization: JH, TAT, and EMC. Data curation: GA, II, MKH, and GM. Formal analysis: GA, TAT, EMC, and JH. Funding acquisition: PCEZ, JRD, and JH. Investigation: GA, II, MKH, GM, and PCEZ. Methodology: TAT, EMC, JRD, and JH. Project administration: TAT, EMC, and JH. Resources: PCEZ. Software: PCEZ. Supervision: EMC, JRD, and JH. Validation: TAT and PCEZ. Visualization: GA, II, MKH, and GM. Writing—original draft: GA, II, MKH, and GM. Writing—review and editing: PCEZ, TAT, JRD, EMC, and JH.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge Hallak.

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Andrade, G., Iori, I., Hsieh, M.K. et al. Serum lipid profile levels and semen quality: new insights and clinical perspectives for male infertility and men’s health. Int Urol Nephrol 55, 2397–2404 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-023-03688-w

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