Association Between Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Severe Male Reproductive Organ Impairment (Germinal Epithelial Loss): Study on a Mouse Model and on Human Patients

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome (MS) has been associated with testicular damage. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multisystemic disease that affects different organs, but its effect on the testes is unknown. A study analyzing germ cell involvement on BALB/c mice was carried out. A parallel comparative study was conducted that investigated alterations in the germinal epithelium of male humans that died from an unrelated acute event. The complete medical histories and histologic samples of the thoracic aorta, liver tissue, and testicular tissue from the deceased subjects were collected. The degree of germinal epithelial loss (DGEL) was evaluated and the clinical and histologic data were compared between individuals with and without NAFLD. The only metabolic or morphologic variable that caused a significant difference in the DGEL, in both the animal model and humans, was the presence of liver steatosis. The percentage of steatosis was also correlated with the percentage of the DGEL. In humans, steatosis (greater than 20%) increased the risk 12-fold for presenting with a severe DGEL (OR: 12.5; 95% CI [1.2, 128.9]; p = .03). There was no association with age above 50 years or MS components. Steatosis grade was also correlated with atherosclerosis grade. NAFLD was a strongly associated factor implicated in severe DGEL, as well as the testis was identified as a probable target organ for damage caused by the disease. This finding could result in the search for new approach strategies in the management of men with fertility problems. Further studies are required to confirm these results.

Association between high-fat diet feeding and male fertility in high reproductive performance mice

“…In this sense, we observed a reduction in sperm count, similar to previous reports 28,35,36 and opposed to others 23,26,37,38 . In addition, differently from other studies reporting deleterious effects of HFD on testicular morphological structure 25,28–30,35,36 , our histological analysis showed no major differences in this feature between groups, resulting in normal spermatogenesis and sperm morphology in the HFD group. However, HFD-fed mice exhibited a decrease in epididymal weight, consistent with the lower epididymal sperm count.…”

“…This delay in reaching differences in body weight might be due to the reduced food intake of HFD-fed mice in our study with a consequent energy intake only 12% higher than NFD controls, in contrast to the 55% and 20% increases reported by others 26,27 . In addition, examination of the livers showed that the HFD treatment did not produce steatosis or increases in the organ size in B6CF1 males as observed in other mouse models 23,25,29,30 , that could be a consequence of the aforementioned gradual intake of excessive fat. In this regard, considering that gut microbiota has emerged recently as being crucial in the etiology of metabolic diseases (reviewed in 31 ), the possibility that in our study the MetS-like condition was attenuated by the local microbiota cannot be ruled out.…”

Vitamins combined with traditional Chinese medicine for male infertility: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Except for kidney and spleen deficiency, 58 liver disorder-induced pathological factor (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) was also revealed to be associated with severe male reproductive organ impairment. 59 Modern research suggests that vitality. 35,60 Recent studies found the therapeutic function of velvet antler polypeptide 61 and total flavonoids of Epimedium 62 for…”

Hepatoprotective effects ofErythrina abyssinicaLam Ex Dc against Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Sprague Dawley Rats

“…Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) covers a wide range of hepatic changes, ranging from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH), liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and is one of the most common chronic liver disorders worldwide [1, 3,5]. It is associated with diverse clinical conditions including but not limited to obesity, renal failure, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, myocardial infarction, hypothyroidism, male infertility among others [5,6,8,[21][22][23][24][25]. Current therapies for this condition however remain unsatisfactory underscoring the need for discovering new efficacious treatments for this condition [12,13,26].…”