Incubation of human sperm with micelles made from glycerophospholipid mixtures increases sperm motility and resistance to oxidative stress

Abstract

Membrane integrity is essential in maintaining sperm viability, signaling, and motility, which are essential for fertilization. Sperm are highly susceptible to oxidative stress, as they are rich in sensitive polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and are unable to synthesize and repair many essential membrane constituents. Because of this, sperm cellular membranes are important targets of this process. Membrane Lipid Replacement (MLR) with glycerophospholipid mixtures (GPL) has been shown to ameliorate oxidative stress in cells, restore their cellular membranes, and prevent loss of function. Therefore, we tested the effects of MLR on sperm by tracking and monitoring GPL incorporation into their membrane systems and studying their effects on sperm motility and viability under different experimental conditions. Incubation of sperm with mixtures of exogenous, unoxidized GPL results in their incorporation into sperm membranes, as shown by the use of fluorescent dyes attached to GPL. The percent overall (total) sperm motility was increased from 52±2.5% to 68±1.34% after adding GPL to the incubation media, and overall sperm motility was recovered from 7±2% after H2O2 treatment to 58±2.5%)(n = 8, p<0.01) by the incorporation of GPL into sperm membranes. When sperm were exposed to H2O2, the mitochondrial inner membrane potential (MIMP), monitored using the MIMP tracker dye JC-1 in flow cytometry, diminished, whereas the addition of GPL prevented the decrease in MIMP. Confocal microscopy with Rhodamine-123 and JC-1 confirmed the mitochondrial localization of the dyes. We conclude that incubation of human sperm with glycerolphospholipids into the membranes of sperm improves sperm viability, motility, and resistance to oxidizing agents like H2O2. This suggests that human sperm might be useful to test innovative new treatments like MLR, since such treatments could improve fertility when it is adversely affected by increased oxidative stress.

Reduction of Pain, Fatigue, Gastrointestinal and Other Symptoms and Improvement in Quality of Life Indicators in Fibromyalgia Patients with Membrane Lipid Replacement Glycerolphospholipids and Controlled-Release Caffeine

“…When caffeine was in the mixture, the combination was more effective (p = 0.015) [35]. Here we did not compare caffeine alone to [42]. The clinical trial results here are consistent with what has been described for the fibromyalgia syndrome etiology and the mechanism of action of NTFactor Lipids  and caffeine.…”

Metabolite Support of Long-Term Storage of Sperm in the Spermatheca of Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Queens

“…Membrane integrity is vital to maintain sperm viability and motility, which are essential for fertilization (Gonzalo et al, 2018). Sperm are highly susceptible to oxidative stress because ROS and reactive nitrogen species target cellular membranes (Aitken, 2017).…”

“…Sperm are highly susceptible to oxidative stress because ROS and reactive nitrogen species target cellular membranes (Aitken, 2017). Mixtures with GPL can ameliorate oxidative stress in cells (Gonzalo et al, 2018), and indeed, sperm phospholipids are protected from oxidation during storage (Wegener et al, 2013).…”

“…In this study, 153 of 861 metabolites were in the class GPL, under the superclass of lipids and lipid-like molecules, which was the largest classification. The abundant lipids provide assistance to the sperm against peroxidation via superoxide dismutase and the glutathione peroxidase/reductase system (Gonzalo et al, 2018). A total of 68 GPCs and 41 glycerophospho-ethanolamines (GPEs) were obtained, which were the most abundant metabolites regardless of whether the putative compounds were prefixed with lysopc/pc or lysope/pe.…”

Relevance of Fatty Acids to Sperm Maturation and Quality

“…It should be underlined that the sperm membrane enriched of long-chain PUFAs is more prone to oxidation [92,93] due to the numerous skipped diene formations in the structure. Accordingly, for a better response in the intervention studies, it is probably more effective to supplement the subjects with a strong antioxidant with high-dose PUFA to avoid unnecessary oxidation.…”