BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated an association between obesity and the decreased male fertility.Objectiveto observe the mechanisms by which obesity affects semen quality.Materials and methodsA prospective study was performed including 47 male volunteers, of which 27 were obese group (body mass index >30 kg/m2) and 20 were eutrophic (body mass index between 18.5 and 25 kg/m2) controls. Sperm functional analysis was performed. The remaining seminal plasma was pooled—four pools per group— and submitted to proteomic analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Groups were compared by an unpaired Student's t‐test. Differentially expressed proteins were submitted to functional enrichment analysis using the online platform PantherDB.ResultsObese men presented decreased non‐progressive motility, morphology, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity, and increased sperm DNA fragmentation. In proteomics analysis, 69 proteins were differentially expressed between the two groups. Among them, one protein was absent, 19 were down‐regulated, 49 were up‐regulated, and one was exclusive in the study group. The main functions enriched were as follows: negative regulation of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, activation of immune and inflammatory, antioxidant activity, among others.Conclusionmolecular pathways suggest there is a causative link, and that the effector mechanisms alter sperm metabolic status and defective testicular selection 5 mechanisms.

To verify if quality of spermatozoa from men with testicular germ cell tumours is better before or after orchiectomy. This prospective study was carried out including 24 patients with testicular germ cell tumours, who provide one semen sample before they were submitted to unilateral orchiectomy and one other semen sample 30 days after the surgery. After collection by masturbation and liquefaction, an aliquot of the semen sample was used for semen analysis and another was used to evaluate sperm mitochondrial activity, DNA fragmentation and acrosome integrity. Seminal plasma was used to evaluate lipid peroxidation levels. Pre-orchiectomy sample and post-orchiectomy sample were compared using a paired Student's t test (normal distribution) or a paired Wilcoxon test, when appropriate (p ˂ 0.05). No significant difference was observed in semen analysis. A significant decrease in DNA fragmentation and lipid peroxidation and an increase in mitochondrial activity were observed after orchiectomy. Based on our findings, the semen quality from men with testicular germ cell tumours is better after orchiectomy. K E Y W O R D SDNA fragmentation, orchiectomy, oxidative stress, spermatozoa, testicular neoplasm How to cite this article: Andrade MBR, Bertolla RP, Intasqui P, et al. Effect of orchiectomy on sperm functional aspects and semen oxidative stress in men with testicular tumours.

Seminal plasma proteins already demonstrated to reflect the testicular environment function and important regulatory mechanisms. However, it is crucial to understand which of these proteins participate in probable altered pathways in testicular germ cell tumours and after unilateral orchiectomy. In this study, we proposed to verify, by a multiplex approach, the levels of DNA damage and apoptosis pathways’ proteins, in seminal plasma of men before and after unilateral orchiectomy, and also in control men. Comparing pre‐ and post‐orchiectomy groups, just the apoptosis pathways’ proteins presented different levels, in which Bad was lower and Bcl2, Akt, caspase‐9, p53 and caspase‐8 were higher after orchiectomy. When comparing pre‐ and post‐orchiectomy groups with control, both presented lower levels of ChK1, Chk2, H2AX, p53 and p21, for DNA damage pathway. Regarding the apoptosis pathway, lower levels of JNK, Bcl2, Akt, caspase‐9, p53 and caspase‐8 and higher levels of Bad were observed before orchiectomy. The post‐orchiectomy group did not differ from controls, demonstrating a probable restoration on its proteins levels. We can conclude that testicular tumours can alter both of the assessed pathways, and its removal is associated with a probable restoration of the apoptosis pathway.