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NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility

Infertility is a worldwide health issue defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the inability to establish a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular and unprotected sexual intercourse. Male infertility etiology can be related to either congenital or acquired factors. The therapeutical...

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Autores principales: Ferraguti, Giampiero, Fanfarillo, Francesca, Tarani, Luigi, Blaconà, Giovanna, Tarani, Francesca, Barbato, Christian, Minni, Antonio, Ralli, Massimo, Francati, Silvia, Greco, Antonio, Petrella, Carla, Fiore, Marco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9655275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36361912
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113127
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author Ferraguti, Giampiero
Fanfarillo, Francesca
Tarani, Luigi
Blaconà, Giovanna
Tarani, Francesca
Barbato, Christian
Minni, Antonio
Ralli, Massimo
Francati, Silvia
Greco, Antonio
Petrella, Carla
Fiore, Marco
author_facet Ferraguti, Giampiero
Fanfarillo, Francesca
Tarani, Luigi
Blaconà, Giovanna
Tarani, Francesca
Barbato, Christian
Minni, Antonio
Ralli, Massimo
Francati, Silvia
Greco, Antonio
Petrella, Carla
Fiore, Marco
author_sort Ferraguti, Giampiero
collection PubMed
description Infertility is a worldwide health issue defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the inability to establish a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular and unprotected sexual intercourse. Male infertility etiology can be related to either congenital or acquired factors. The therapeutical approach to male infertility depends on the underlying causes and includes medical and surgical treatments. In recent studies, the potential role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in male reproductive physiology has been proposed. It has been hypothesized that neurotrophins might be involved in testis morphogenesis and regulation of several aspects of spermatogenesis. Moreover, it has been shown that NGF exerts its role on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons through the activation of the PKC/p–ERK1/2/p–CREB cascade, which leads to the activation of hypothalamic cells and the consequent activation of hypothalamus–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG) with the secretion of GnRH. Lastly, it has been shown that the physiology of mature sperm is affected by both exogenous and endogenous NGF. The NGF impact on the HPG axis and its effect on GnRH neurons might be exploited in the therapy of male hypogonadism or used as a protective strategy against gonadal dysfunction related to chemotherapeutic agents. Moreover, the improving effect of NGF on sperm motility and vitality could be useful to enhance assisted reproduction outcomes. NGF could be supplemented to cryopreserved sperm samples to counteract the oxidative stress induced by the frozen and thawing processes. Indeed, the potential clinical applications of NGF in male infertility treatment have been discussed.
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spelling pubmed-96552752022-11-15 NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility Ferraguti, Giampiero Fanfarillo, Francesca Tarani, Luigi Blaconà, Giovanna Tarani, Francesca Barbato, Christian Minni, Antonio Ralli, Massimo Francati, Silvia Greco, Antonio Petrella, Carla Fiore, Marco Int J Mol Sci Review Infertility is a worldwide health issue defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the inability to establish a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular and unprotected sexual intercourse. Male infertility etiology can be related to either congenital or acquired factors. The therapeutical approach to male infertility depends on the underlying causes and includes medical and surgical treatments. In recent studies, the potential role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in male reproductive physiology has been proposed. It has been hypothesized that neurotrophins might be involved in testis morphogenesis and regulation of several aspects of spermatogenesis. Moreover, it has been shown that NGF exerts its role on gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons through the activation of the PKC/p–ERK1/2/p–CREB cascade, which leads to the activation of hypothalamic cells and the consequent activation of hypothalamus–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG) with the secretion of GnRH. Lastly, it has been shown that the physiology of mature sperm is affected by both exogenous and endogenous NGF. The NGF impact on the HPG axis and its effect on GnRH neurons might be exploited in the therapy of male hypogonadism or used as a protective strategy against gonadal dysfunction related to chemotherapeutic agents. Moreover, the improving effect of NGF on sperm motility and vitality could be useful to enhance assisted reproduction outcomes. NGF could be supplemented to cryopreserved sperm samples to counteract the oxidative stress induced by the frozen and thawing processes. Indeed, the potential clinical applications of NGF in male infertility treatment have been discussed. MDPI 2022-10-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9655275/ /pubmed/36361912 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113127 Text en © 2022 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 Review
Ferraguti, Giampiero
Fanfarillo, Francesca
Tarani, Luigi
Blaconà, Giovanna
Tarani, Francesca
Barbato, Christian
Minni, Antonio
Ralli, Massimo
Francati, Silvia
Greco, Antonio
Petrella, Carla
Fiore, Marco
NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title_full NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title_fullStr NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title_full_unstemmed NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title_short NGF and the Male Reproductive System: Potential Clinical Applications in Infertility
title_sort ngf and the male reproductive system: potential clinical applications in infertility
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9655275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36361912
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113127
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