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The Association Between the Levels of Oxidative Stress Indicators (MDA, SOD, and GSH) in Seminal Plasma and the Risk of Idiopathic Oligo-asthenotera-tozoospermia: Does Cu or Se Level Alter the Association?

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Abstract

Epidemiological studies on the associations between the levels of oxidative stress (OS) indicators (MDA, SOD, and GSH) in seminal plasma and the risk of idiopathic oligo-asthenotera-tozoospermia (OAT) are still inconsistent. Additionally, whether the associations can be altered by the status of essential trace elements is still unknown. To investigate the relationship between MDA, SOD, and GSH levels in seminal plasma and the risk of idiopathic OAT, and further to examine whether levels of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and selenium (Se) in seminal plasma can alter the associations. A total of 148 subjects (75 idiopathic OAT cases and 73 controls) were included in this study. Seminal plasma samples from all the participants were measured for levels of MDA, SOD, GSH, Fe, Cu, and Se. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between three oxidative stress indicators and the risk of idiopathic OAT. Bayesian kernel machine regression was performed to determine the joint effects of levels of three OS indicators on the risk of idiopathic OAT. Subgroup analyses were performed to explore whether the above associations can be different when Fe, Cu, and Se were in different levels. The level of MDA in seminal plasma was positively associated with the risk of idiopathic OAT, with adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of 2.38 (1.17, 4.83), and SOD and GSH levels were not associated with the risk of idiopathic OAT. In BKMR analyses, we found a significant positive association between the mixture of MDA, SOD, and GSH levels and the risk of idiopathic OAT at concentrations below the 65th percentile, while a negative association at concentrations above it. In subgroup analysis, a positive association was observed between MDA levels in seminal plasma and the risk of idiopathic OAT in the high-Cu group (adjusted OR = 3.66, 95%CI = 1.16, 11.57), while no significant association was found in the low-Cu group (adjusted OR = 1.43, 95%CI = 0.44, 4.58). Additionally, a negative association was found between GSH levels in seminal plasma and the risk of idiopathic OAT in the high-Se group (adjusted OR = 0.34, 95%CI = 0.11, 0.99), while no significant association was observed in the low-Se group (adjusted OR = 1.96, 95%CI = 0.46, 8.27). The levels of MDA, SOD, and GSH in seminal plasma were associated with the risk of idiopathic OAT, and the levels of Cu and Se in seminal plasma may alter the associations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the medical staff at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in Anhui, China, for their assistance in subject recruitment and collection of sperm samples. The authors are also thankful to the Scientific Research Center in Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, for providing technical support for the experiment.

Funding

This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-U20A20350, NSFC-82173532, NSFC-81971455, NSFC-81803260, and NSFC-81601345), the Excellent Young Talents Fund Program of Higher Education Institutions of Anhui Province (gxyq2021173), the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Project of Anhui Medical University (YJS20230076), and the Anhui Medical University “Clinical Early Contact Research” Training Program Project(2022-ZQKY-48, 2022-ZQKY-174). Research Fund of Anhui Institute of translational medicine (2022zhyx-C16).

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  1. Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li and Xinyu Zhou contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 218 Jixi Road, Hefei, 230022, Anhui, China

    Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li, Xinyu Zhou, Xin Wang, Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji & Chunmei Liang

  2. Department of Health Inspection and Quarantine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li, Xinyu Zhou, Rui Dong, Xin Wang, Shitao He, Tingting Jiang, Fangbiao Tao, Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji & Chunmei Liang

  3. NHC Key Laboratory of Study on Abnormal Gametes and Reproductive Tract (Anhui Medical University), No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li, Xinyu Zhou, Xin Wang, Fangbiao Tao, Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji & Chunmei Liang

  4. Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the people’s Republic of China, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li, Xinyu Zhou, Xin Wang, Fangbiao Tao, Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji & Chunmei Liang

  5. Anhui Provincial Institute of Translational Medicine, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China

    Tao Yin, Xinyu Yue, Qian Li, Xinyu Zhou, Xin Wang, Fangbiao Tao, Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji & Chunmei Liang

  6. The First Clinical School of Anhui Medical University, Anhui, China

    Jiayi Chen & Runtao Zhang

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  1. Tao Yin
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Contributions

Tao Yin: methodology, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft, funding acquisition. Xinyu Yue: formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, funding acquisition. Qian Li: methodology, investigation. Xinyu Zhou: methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft. Rui Dong: methodology, data curation. Xin Wang: methodology, data curation. Jiayi Chen: methodology, data curation. Runtao Zhang: methodology, data curation. Shitao He: methodology, data curation. Tingting Jiang: methodology, data curation. Ying Zhang: methodology. Dongmei Ji: formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, funding acquisition. Yunxia Cao: conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, writing—review and editing. Dongmei Ji: conceptualization, visualization, writing—original draft, funding acquisition. Chunmei Liang: conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, writing—review and editing. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yunxia Cao, Dongmei Ji or Chunmei Liang.

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Yin, T., Yue, X., Li, Q. et al. The Association Between the Levels of Oxidative Stress Indicators (MDA, SOD, and GSH) in Seminal Plasma and the Risk of Idiopathic Oligo-asthenotera-tozoospermia: Does Cu or Se Level Alter the Association?. Biol Trace Elem Res 202, 2941–2953 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-03888-6

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