Effects of varicocele and microsurgical varicocelectomy on the metabolites in semen.
Sci Rep
; 12(1): 5179, 2022 03 25.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35338186
ABSTRACT
The influence of varicocele and microsurgical varicocelectomy on semen quality remains unclear. Few studies have investigated the relationship between semen metabolism and the abnormalities in reproductive function caused by varicocele, however, there is no study on the changes of semen metabolism after microsurgical varicocelectomy. Here, we used the non-targeted and targeted metabolic analysis to investigate the different metabolites in seminal plasma within normal, varicocele, and varicocelectomy groups. We clearly showed that varicocele significantly affects semen metabolism, and microsurgical varicocelectomy can reverse this metabolic abnormality. Moreover, we characterized the landscape of three dipeptides in the seminal plasma of patients with varicocele that have not been identified previously in human tissues or biofluids. Interestingly, the levels of these three dipeptides decreased after microsurgical varicocelectomy coincident with an improvement in semen quality. Western blotting confirmed the downregulation of DPEP3 (dipeptidase 3) in the varicocele group and the upregulation of DPEP3 in the varicocelectomy group. Furthermore, we found that eight metabolites may be helpful to distinguish varicocele patients from normal subjects. Our results may be applied to earlier diagnosis or to predict the outcome of microsurgery for varicocele.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Varicocele
/
Infertilidade Masculina
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article