The effect of vitamin D on sperm motility and the underlying mechanism

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is a common health issue around the world. We therefore evaluated the associations of semen quality with both serum and seminal plasma vitamin D levels and studied the mechanisms underlying these by incubating spermatozoa with 1,25(OH) 2 D in vitro . Two hundred and twenty-two men were included in our study. Vitamin D was detected using an electrochemiluminescence method. Spermatozoa used for in vitro experiments were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. Positive relationships of serum 25(OH)D with semen volume and seminal plasma fructose were identified. Seminal plasma 25(OH)D level showed no relationship with serum 25(OH)D level, while it was inversely associated with sperm concentration and positively correlated with semen volume and sperm kinetic values. In vitro , sperm kinetic parameters increased after incubation with 1,25(OH) 2 D, especially upon incubation for 30 min with it at a concentration of 0.1 nmol l −1 . Under these incubation conditions, the upward migration of spermatozoa increased remarkably with increasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration. The concentration of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and the activity of protein kinase A (PKA) were both elevated, and the PKA inhibitor, N-[2-(p-Bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide dihydrochloride (H89) reversed the increase of ATP production. The concentrations of cytoplasmic calcium ions and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) were both enhanced, while mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) inhibitor, Ruthenium 360 (Ru360) did not reverse the increase of ATP production. Therefore, seminal plasma vitamin D may be involved in regulating sperm motility, and 1,25(OH) 2 D may enhance sperm motility by promoting the synthesis of ATP both through the cAMP/PKA pathway and the increase in intracellular calcium ions.

Vitamin D and Male Fertility: An Updated Review

“…Indeed, vitamin D was reported to be unrelated [62,89,90,[92][93][94] or positively associated to sperm count [62,78,87,88,91,95]. Most of the studies showed that circulating levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 were not associated with sperm morphology [61,62,78,89,[93][94][95][96]. Only four studies showed a positive association [66,87,88,90].…”

“…One more recent in vitro study explored the relationships between both serum and seminal plasma vitamin D levels and semen quality, by incubating spermato-zoa with 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D. In vitro, sperm kinetic parameters increased after incubation for 30 minutes with 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D. The upward migration of spermatozoa increased remarkably with increasing adenosine triphosphate concentration, showing a positive correlation between seminal plasma vitamin D and sperm kinetics. In this context, seminal plasma vitamin D may better reflect the status of male reproduction [95].…”

Effects of Vitamin D on Apoptosis and Quality of Sperm in Asthenozoospermia

“…In addition, it causes incomplete spermatogenesis and degenerative changes as well (Ramlau-Hansen et al, 2011). Some studies have shown that the serum and seminal plasma vitamin D may be involved in regulating sperm quality (morphology, concentration, motility and acrosome reaction) (Aquila et al, 2009;Ramlau-Hansen et al, 2011;Blomberg Jensen et al, 2011;Jueraitetibaike et al, 2019), and others showed that vitamin D has anti-apoptosis function in some cells (Zhang et al, 2007); therefore, the authors decided to assess the role of this vitamin in apoptosis and sperm quality in asthenozoospermic and healthy men. For this purpose, we used VD under in vitro condition like ART and evaluated sperm quality (morphology, motility, chromatin integrity) and apoptosis using Annexin V and TENNEL.…”

Rosmarinic acid improves boar sperm quality, antioxidant capacity and energy metabolism at 17°C via AMPK activation

“…The ATP Assay Kit (Beyotime) was used to determine the ATP content in boar sperm samples on day 0 and the 3rd and 7th days of the experiment (Jueraitetibaike et al, 2019). Briefly, the lysis buffer was added to the sample to extract intracellular ATP from boar sperm.…”