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Metabolic syndrome and male fertility disorders: Is there a causal link?

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Abstract

Infertility is a global health problem affecting 10–15% of couples in reproductive age. Recent studies have provided growing evidence supporting that lifestyle factors can affect male fertility through alterations in endocrine profiles, spermatogenesis and/or sperm function. One of these critical factors could be the change in the food intake behavior in modern societies that produces metabolic alterations. Regarding this, metabolic syndrome (MetS) prevalence has increased in epidemic in the last 40–50 years. Although MetS is associated with advanced age, changes in lifestyles have accelerated the appearance of symptoms in the reproductive age. We review herein the current understanding of the relationship between MetS and the male reproductive status. For this purpose, in this narrative review a comprehensive literature search was made in both animal models and men, allowing us to evaluate such relationship. This analysis showed a high variability in the reproductive phenotypes observed in patients and mice suffering MetS, including sperm parameters, fertility and offspring health. In view of this, we proposed that the reproductive effects, which are diverse and not robust, observed among MetS-affected males, might depend on additional factors not associated with the metabolic condition and contributed not only by the affected male but also by his partner. With this perspective, this review provides a more accurate insight of this syndrome critical for the identification of specific diagnostic indicators and treatment of MetS-induced fertility disorders.

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Abbreviations

HFD:

High-fat diet

HPG:

Hypothalamic-pituitary–gonadal axis

ICSI:

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection

IL:

Interleukin

MetS:

Metabolic syndrome

MMP:

Mitochondrial membrane potential

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TGF-β:

Transforming growth factor-β

TNF-α:

Tumor necrosis factor-α

ZP:

Zona pellucida

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion (PICT 2017–668) and the National Research Council (PUE 2017) of Argentina.

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  1. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IByME-CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Débora Juana Cohen, María Milagros Giaccagli, Jael Dafne Herzfeld, Lucas Nicolás González, Patricia Sara Cuasnicú & Vanina Gabriela Da Ros

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  1. Débora Juana Cohen
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  2. María Milagros Giaccagli
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  3. Jael Dafne Herzfeld
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DJC and VGD: conceptualization, data curation, funding acquisition, investigation, writing—original draft, review & editing. MMG, JDH and LNG: data curation, investigation, visualization, writing—original draft. PSC: investigation, writing—original draft.

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Cohen, D.J., Giaccagli, M.M., Herzfeld, J.D. et al. Metabolic syndrome and male fertility disorders: Is there a causal link?. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 22, 1057–1071 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11154-021-09659-9

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