Male
Infertility and Glutathione
Copyright
© 2004 Priya Shah
Are
You Half The Man Your Father Was?
It is a well-known
fact that sperm counts have dropped by half in the last 50 years,
and that modern men have 20 percent less semen volume than their
fathers (BMJ, 1992, volume 305).
A recent report
from researchers in Aberdeen presented preliminary data that suggests
the sperm concentration of the men seen in their clinic had declined
by 29% over the past 14 years. (British Fertility Society; 5 January
2004)
Persistent
organic pollutants (POPs) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals from
normal, everyday plastics are known to cause reproductive damage,
as documented in Theo Colborn's book "Our Stolen Future."
Damage to
sperm caused by exposure to common chemicals like alcohol, pesticides
in food, has been linked to lowered intelligence and behavioral
disorders in children.
Lifestyle
risk factors known to decrease sperm quality include
>
Cigarette smoking
> Alcohol consumption
> Chronic stress
> Nutritional deficiencies.
Other
reasons for infertility include congenital factors, and health
conditions like prostatitis and diabetes that can affect sperm
production.
Pollution
is stealing our future, and there's little anyone can do to avoid
it. There may not be a lot you can do to reduce your exposure
to persistent environmental toxins.
But
there are definite measures you can take to reduce the impact
of the environmental pollutants and toxins on your body.
You
can prevent and, to a certain extent, repair the damage they cause
to your body, through a better lifestyle and nutrition.
Some
nutritional therapies and antioxidants that have proven beneficial
in treating male infertility and improving sperm counts, sperm
morphology and motility include:
>
Carnitine
> Arginine
> Zinc
> Selenium
> Vitamin B-12
> Vitamin C
> Vitamin E
> Glutathione
> Coenzyme Q10
Studies
show that anti-oxidant supplementation - glutathione in particular
- can improve sperm quality, and possibly increase your chances
of conceiving.
If
you smoke, drink, are exposed to stress, chemicals, radiation,
pesticides or take medication or drugs (like sulfasalazine, ketoconazole,
azulfidine, anabolic steroids, marijuana) that affect fertility,
you should consider taking an antioxidant supplement to reverse
some of the damage.
Why are Antioxidants Important for Sperm Quality?
Mammalian
spermatozoa are coated by a membrane rich in polyunsaturated fatty
acids. These fatty acids are extremely susceptible to oxidative
damage by free radicals or Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) by a
process called lipid peroxidation (LPO).
Lipid
peroxidation damages the sperm cell membrane. It is considered
to be the key mechanism of ROS-induced sperm damage and leads
to
>
Loss of sperm motility
> Abnormal sperm morphology
> Reduced capacity for oocyte penetration
> Infertility
To
protect sperm from damage, the body depends on powerful antioxidant
enzymes in the body such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase,
and glutathione peroxidase/reductase (GPX/GRD).
Seminal
plasma and spermatozoa have several antioxidant enzymes - glutathione
peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase.
Some
amount of all the antioxidant enzymes, which may protect spermatozoa
from oxidative attack, are also made by the epididymis during
storage.
The
glutathione peroxidase/reductase enzymes play a central role in
the defense against oxidative damage in human sperm.
Why is Glutathione important for Sperm Quality and Fertility?
A
decrease in levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) during sperm production
is known to disrupt the membrane integrity of spermatozoa due
to increased oxidative stress.
Intracellular
glutathione levels of spermatozoa are known to be decreased in
certain populations of infertile men. Compared with a control
group, the infertile men in all groups had significantly higher
levels of ROS and lower levels of total antioxidants.
There
is strong clinical evidence to show that men diagnosed with infertility
have high levels of oxidative stress that may impair the quality
of their sperm.
In
some groups, higher levels of ROS were associated with lower sperm
counts and defective sperm structure, while lower antioxidant
levels correlated with reduced sperm movement.
Previous
evidence has also shown that oxidative stress can decrease a sperm's
life span, its motility, and its ability to penetrate the oocyst,
or egg cell.
Up
to 40% of men with unexplained male infertility have higher levels
of free radical activity in their bodies.
Because
men with high levels of ROS have a seven-fold lower likelihood
of inducing a pregnancy than men with lower levels, researchers
recommend that treatment for infertile men should include strategies
to reduce oxidative stress and improve sperm quality.
How can Glutathione help in the Treatment of Infertility?
Glutathione
is not only vital to sperm antioxidant defenses, but selenium
and glutathione are essential to the formation of "phospholipid
hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase" - an enzyme present
in spermatids - which becomes a structural protein in the mid-piece
of mature spermatozoa.
When
either substance is deficient, it can lead to instability of the
mid-piece of the spermatozoa, resulting in defective motility.
Free
radical scavengers - such as glutathione - that restore the structure
and function of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the cell
membrane, can be used to treat these cases.
In
a double-blind cross-over study of twenty infertile men, treatment
with glutathione led to a statistically significant improvement
of the sperm quality.
The
study concerned men in whom the sperm quality was poor due to
unilateral varicocele or germ-free genital tract inflammation
- two conditions in which ROS or other toxic compounds are indicated
as causative factors.
Treatment
with glutathione was also found to have a statistically significantly
positive effect on sperm motility (in particular forward motility)
and on sperm morphology.
The
findings of these studies indicate that glutathione therapy could
represent a possible therapeutical tool in cases where ROS or
exposure to toxins is the probable cause of infertility.
Read
the complete report with references on Male
Infertility and Glutathione
About
the author:
Priya Shah is the Editor of The
Glutathione Report, a newsletter featuring regular updates
on the health benefits of glutathione. Get a Free
report on Glutathione in Health and Disease
