Center for Reproductive Medicine, Henan Key Laboratory of Reproduction and Genetics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Discipline of Biological Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
Free Radic Biol Med. 2021 Feb 20;164:410-416. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2021.01.014. Epub 2021 Jan 19.
Oxidative stress generates a large amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and affects sperm quality via damaging sperm DNA and compromising the intracellular homeostasis in human spermatozoa. In assisted reproductive technology (ART), it is substantial to prevent spermatozoa from ROS attack. The pineal hormone melatonin has the natural antioxidant capacity and can scavenge ROS. To the best of our knowledge, however, there are presently no studies investigating if melatonin can protect human spermatozoa from heat-induced oxidative damage. Herein, we induced oxidative stress in human spermatozoa with heat treatment, and determined that melatonin could protect human spermatozoa from heat-induced oxidative stress. We first confirmed that heat stress-induced oxidative stress damaged human spermatozoa by decreasing sperm motility and viability. Furthermore, the pretreatment of human spermatozoa by melatonin was able to alleviate such damage by suppressing sperm mitochondrial ROS generation, increasing mitochondrial membrane potential, reducing the formation of the lipid peroxidation product, 4-HNE, and reducing sperm DNA damage and apoptosis. Collectively, these findings suggest that melatonin is useful as a potential treatment option for male infertility caused by heat-induced oxidative stress.
氧化应激会产生大量的活性氧（ROS），通过损害精子 DNA 和破坏人类精子细胞内的动态平衡来影响精子质量。在辅助生殖技术（ART）中，防止精子受到 ROS 攻击至关重要。松果体激素褪黑素具有天然的抗氧化能力，可以清除 ROS。据我们所知，目前尚无研究探讨褪黑素是否可以保护人类精子免受热诱导的氧化损伤。在此，我们通过热疗诱导人精子的氧化应激，并确定褪黑素可以保护人精子免受热诱导的氧化应激。我们首先通过降低精子的活力和活力来证实热应激诱导的氧化应激会损害人精子。此外，通过抑制精子线粒体 ROS 的产生、增加线粒体膜电位、减少脂质过氧化产物 4-HNE 的形成以及减少精子 DNA 损伤和凋亡，褪黑素预处理人精子可以减轻这种损伤。总之，这些发现表明褪黑素作为一种潜在的治疗方法，可用于治疗因热诱导的氧化应激导致的男性不育症。
