Amirjannati Naser, Asl Mahdieh Aghabalazadeh, Hosseini Elham, Henkel Ralf, Agharezaee Niloofar, Kafaeinezhad Raheleh, Rezadoost Hassan, Gilany Kambiz
Department of Andrology and Embryology, Reproductive Biotechnology Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Phytochemistry, Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
JBRA Assist Reprod. 2025 Mar 12;29(1):67-75. doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20240086.
Different aspects of the functions of free fatty acid (FFA) in seminal plasma and their implications on male fertility are known. However, the profile of FFA in seminal plasma in asthenozoospermic patients following antioxidant therapy has not been studied.
In this case-control study, the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and FFA profile of the seminal plasma were determined in 80 patients (29 normozoospermic volunteers and 51 asthenozoospermic men) who were treated with antioxidants for three months.
The TAC level in normozoospermic men was significantly higher than in asthenozoospermic men before and after antioxidant therapy with even lower values after the treatment (p=0.0001). The most abundant identified FFAs in seminal plasma were palmitic acid, vaccenic acid, eicosatrienoic acid, stearic acid, and myristoleic acid. Palmitic acid was lower in asthenozoospermic patients (p=0.0001), and antioxidant treatment restored its level to near-control levels. Compared to normozoospermic controls, the level of eicosatrienoic acid is significantly lower in asthenozoospermia patients before (p=0.01) and after treatment (p=0.0001). Additionally, following oral antioxidant supplementation, the FFA pattern in asthenozoospermic patients changes to the pattern observed in normozoospermic men. However, these changes are not statistically significant.
The TAC level in asthenozoospermic patients after antioxidant treatment did not change to the levels in the control group; it even dropped to a lower level following three months of treatment. Antioxidant treatment can change the level of the FFA compositions of seminal plasma.
游离脂肪酸（FFA）在精浆中的功能的不同方面及其对男性生育能力的影响已为人所知。然而，抗氧化治疗后弱精子症患者精浆中FFA的情况尚未得到研究。
在这项病例对照研究中，对80例患者（29名正常精子志愿者和51名弱精子症男性）进行了为期三个月的抗氧化治疗，测定了他们精浆的总抗氧化能力（TAC）和FFA情况。
在抗氧化治疗前后，正常精子男性的TAC水平显著高于弱精子症男性，治疗后的值甚至更低（p = 0.0001）。精浆中鉴定出的最丰富的FFA是棕榈酸、反式-11-十八碳烯酸、二十碳三烯酸、硬脂酸和肉豆蔻油酸。弱精子症患者的棕榈酸含量较低（p = 0.0001），抗氧化治疗将其水平恢复到接近对照组的水平。与正常精子对照组相比，弱精子症患者治疗前（p = 0.01）和治疗后（p = 0.0001）的二十碳三烯酸水平显著较低。此外，口服抗氧化剂补充后，弱精子症患者的FFA模式转变为正常精子男性中观察到的模式。然而，这些变化在统计学上并不显著。
抗氧化治疗后弱精子症患者的TAC水平未恢复到对照组水平；经过三个月的治疗后甚至降至更低水平。抗氧化治疗可以改变精浆中FFA成分的水平。
