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Antioxidants in the Medical and Surgical Management of Male Infertility

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Male Infertility

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Abstract

Oxidative stress (OS) has been recognized as an important cause of male infertility because it may damage sperm function and DNA integrity. Since antioxidants counteract the action of OS, these compounds are used in the medical treatment of male infertility. This chapter reviews the effects of the main antioxidants used in clinical practice. We used an evidence-based medicine criterion in the attempt to identify the molecules that have the highest clinical efficacy. Some antioxidants have been clearly shown to be effective by many well-conducted studies. These include vitamins C and E, carnitines and coenzyme Q10, which may be considered as a first line treatment. Other molecules, such as glutathione, zinc, lycopene and myoinositol, may be proposed as a second line treatment because their use is supported by a few, but well-designed studies. Lastly, the efficacy of other antioxidants, such as picnogenol, pentoxyfilline, etc., is not yet supported by a sufficient number of studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Sicily, Italy

    Rossella Cannarella, Rosita Condorelli, Aldo E. Calogero & Sandro La Vignera

  2. ASP, Responsabile del Centro Territoriale di Andrologia, Catania, Italy

    Francesco Lanzafame

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  1. Rossella Cannarella
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Correspondence to Sandro La Vignera .

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  1. PUR Clinic, University of Central Florida (UCF), Clermont, FL, USA

    Sijo J. Parekattil

  2. ANDROFERT and State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil

    Sandro C. Esteves

  3. Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Ashok Agarwal

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Cannarella, R., Lanzafame, F., Condorelli, R., Calogero, A.E., La Vignera, S. (2020). Antioxidants in the Medical and Surgical Management of Male Infertility. In: Parekattil, S., Esteves, S., Agarwal, A. (eds) Male Infertility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32300-4_64

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32300-4_64

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32299-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32300-4

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