The effects of combined conventional treatment, oral antioxidants and essential fatty acids on sperm biology in subfertile men

The role of antioxidant therapy in the treatment of male infertility: an overview

“…However, only a few of the studies in this review evaluated this outcome, and no definitive answers have yet emerged from these trials. Fifteen in vivo studies 31,36,41,47,50,51,[62][63][64][65][66][67]69,76,82 included pregnancy rate among the end points measured; in two of these studies, a higher pregnancy rate was achieved, but was not statistically significant. 47,76 In another two studies, the pregnancy rate was lower in the antioxidant-treated group than in the control group, although the comparison was against clomiphene citrate or mesterolone rather than placebo.…”

“…The three most relevant in vivo studies gave conflicting results: Comhaire et al 41 found no improvements in sperm parameters after 3 months' administration of NAC 600 mg day 21 ; whereas the same dosage seemed to improve sperm motility, volume, viscosity and oxidative status in Ciftci et al trial 59 in 2009 with 120 infertile men. Finally, in a trial of 468 patients with idiopathic OAT treated for 6 months with 600 mg day 21 of NAC or 200 mg day 21 of selenium or both, an improvement in sperm count, motility and morphology was seen, with additive beneficial effects when both therapies were administered.…”

“…Only four of these studies [28][29][30][31] found little or no effect on semen parameters, whereas beneficial effects were reported in the remaining 18 studies. 8,19,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] In vitro studies. Two studies by Aitken et al 8,32 on the effects of vitamin E showed that 10 mmol l 21 suppressed lipid peroxidation, leading to preserved motility in vitro, with a dose-dependent effect.…”

“…Comhaire et al 41 studied the effects of a combination therapy of 180 mg day 21 vitamin E and 30 mg day 21 b-carotene on a group of 27 infertile men: ROS production was significantly reduced, although no significant improvements were observed in semen parameters.…”

“…Kessopoulou et al, 1995 28 No effects (600 mg day 21 for 3 months, in vivo) Moilanen and Hovatta, 1995 29 No effects (600-1200 mg day 21 for 3 weeks, in vivo) Geva et al, 1996 30 No effects (200 mg day 21 for 3 months, in vivo) Vezina et al, 1996 35 Increased motility, morphology, viability; no effects on concentration (400 mg day 21 1 100-200 mg day 21 Se for 6 months, in vivo) Suleiman et al, 1996 36 Increased pregnancy rate, increased motility, reduced lipid peroxidation (300 mg day 21 for 6 months, in vivo) Kodama et al, 1997 37 Increased concentration, reduced DNA damage (200 mg vitamin C1200 mg vitamin E1GSH 400 mg every day for 2 months, in vivo) Hughes et al, 1998 38 Reduced DNA damage after Percoll preparation (30-60 mmol l 21 vitamin E, in vitro) Hughes et al, 1998 38 Increased DNA damage after Percoll preparation (300-600 mmol l 21 vitamin C1 30-60 mmol l 21 vitamin E, in vitro) Twigg et al, 1998 19 No effects on NADPH-induced lipid peroxidation (1 mmol l 21 , in vitro) Donnelly et al, 1999 39,40 Reduced H 2 O 2 -induced ROS production and DNA damage (40-60 mmol l 21 , in vitro) Rolf et al, 1999 31 No effects (800 mg vitamin E11000 mg vitamin C daily for 56 days, in vivo) Comhaire et al, 2000 41 Reduced ROS quantity; no effects on semen parameters (30 b-carotene1180 mg vitamin E daily for 3 months, in vivo) 38 Increased DNA damage after Percoll preparation (300-600 mmol l 21 vitamin C1 30-60 mmol l 21 vitamin E, in vitro) Verma and Kanwar, 1998 34 Preserved motility (800 mmol l 21 , in vitro) Donnelly et al, 1999 39,40 Reduced H 2 O 2 -induced ROS production and DNA damage (300-600 mmol l 21 , in vitro) Rolf et al, 1999 31 No effects (800 mg day 21 vitamin E11000 mg day 21 To be continued…”