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Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm
Male infertility is a prevalent concern affecting couples worldwide. While genetic factors, hormonal imbalances, and reproductive system defects play significant roles, emerging evidence suggests that lifestyle choices also profoundly impact male fertility. This study aimed to explore the effects of...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10604710/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37891907 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox12101828 |
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author | Henriques, Magda Carvalho Santiago, Joana Patrício, António Herdeiro, Maria Teresa Loureiro, Susana Fardilha, Margarida |
author_facet | Henriques, Magda Carvalho Santiago, Joana Patrício, António Herdeiro, Maria Teresa Loureiro, Susana Fardilha, Margarida |
author_sort | Henriques, Magda Carvalho |
collection | PubMed |
description | Male infertility is a prevalent concern affecting couples worldwide. While genetic factors, hormonal imbalances, and reproductive system defects play significant roles, emerging evidence suggests that lifestyle choices also profoundly impact male fertility. This study aimed to explore the effects of several lifestyle factors, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical activity, and dietary habits, on semen quality parameters and molecular biomarkers. Thirty healthy male volunteers were recruited in the Urology service at Hospital Infante D. Pedro, Aveiro, Portugal. Participants completed lifestyle questionnaires and provided semen samples, which were analyzed according to the World Health Organization criteria by experienced technicians. We also analyzed the expression levels of antioxidant enzymes and heat-shock response-related proteins to explore the activation of signaling pathways involved in stress response within sperm cells. Our results revealed that tobacco consumption reduced semen volume and total sperm count. Although the changes in the percentage of total motility and normal morphology in the smokers’ group did not reach statistical significance, a slight decrease was observed. Moreover, we identified for the first time a significant association between tobacco consumption and increased levels of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and phosphorylated HSP27 (p-HSP27) in sperm cells, indicating the potential detrimental effects of tobacco on the reproductive system. This study highlights that lifestyle factors reduce semen quality, possibly by inducing stress in sperm, raising awareness about the effects of these risk factors among populations at risk of male infertility. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10604710 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106047102023-10-28 Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm Henriques, Magda Carvalho Santiago, Joana Patrício, António Herdeiro, Maria Teresa Loureiro, Susana Fardilha, Margarida Antioxidants (Basel) Article Male infertility is a prevalent concern affecting couples worldwide. While genetic factors, hormonal imbalances, and reproductive system defects play significant roles, emerging evidence suggests that lifestyle choices also profoundly impact male fertility. This study aimed to explore the effects of several lifestyle factors, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical activity, and dietary habits, on semen quality parameters and molecular biomarkers. Thirty healthy male volunteers were recruited in the Urology service at Hospital Infante D. Pedro, Aveiro, Portugal. Participants completed lifestyle questionnaires and provided semen samples, which were analyzed according to the World Health Organization criteria by experienced technicians. We also analyzed the expression levels of antioxidant enzymes and heat-shock response-related proteins to explore the activation of signaling pathways involved in stress response within sperm cells. Our results revealed that tobacco consumption reduced semen volume and total sperm count. Although the changes in the percentage of total motility and normal morphology in the smokers’ group did not reach statistical significance, a slight decrease was observed. Moreover, we identified for the first time a significant association between tobacco consumption and increased levels of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and phosphorylated HSP27 (p-HSP27) in sperm cells, indicating the potential detrimental effects of tobacco on the reproductive system. This study highlights that lifestyle factors reduce semen quality, possibly by inducing stress in sperm, raising awareness about the effects of these risk factors among populations at risk of male infertility. MDPI 2023-10-04 /pmc/articles/PMC10604710/ /pubmed/37891907 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox12101828 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Henriques, Magda Carvalho Santiago, Joana Patrício, António Herdeiro, Maria Teresa Loureiro, Susana Fardilha, Margarida Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title | Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title_full | Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title_fullStr | Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title_full_unstemmed | Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title_short | Smoking Induces a Decline in Semen Quality and the Activation of Stress Response Pathways in Sperm |
title_sort | smoking induces a decline in semen quality and the activation of stress response pathways in sperm |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10604710/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37891907 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox12101828 |
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