Improvement of Human Sperm Vacuolization and DNA Fragmentation Co-Cultured with Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Secretome: In Vitro Effect

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesOxidative stress (OS) is known to be an important factor of male infertility. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) are known to have immune-modulatory and anti-oxidant effects through their secretions, hence raising the idea of their potential benefit to improve sperm parameters. This study aims at investigating the effect of AD-MSCs conditioned medium (CM) on human sperm parameters in the presence and absence of H2O2-induced OS.Methods and ResultsSperm samples were collected from 30 healthy men and divided into two groups: non-stressed and H2O2-stressed. Isolated AD-MSCs from healthy donors undergoing liposuction were cultured and CM was collected at 24, 48 and 72 h. Both sperm groups were cultured with CM and a time course was performed followed by an evaluation of sperm parameters. The incubation of non-stressed and stressed sperm samples with AD-MSCs-CM for 24 h was found to have the optimum impact on sperm vacuolization, DNA fragmentation and OS levels in comparison to other incubation timings, while preserving motility, viability and morphology of cells. Incubation with CM improved all sperm parameters except morphology in comparison to the non-treated group, with the best effect noted with CM collected at 24 h rather than 48 or 72 h for sperm vacuolization and DNA fragmentation. When compared to fresh semen parameters (T0), samples cultured with CM 24 h showed a significant decrease in sperm vacuolization and DNA fragmentation while keeping other parameters stable.ConclusionsAD-MSCSs-CM improves sperm quality, and hence can be used in treating infertility and subsequently enhancing IVF outcomes.

Can mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate testicular damage? Current researches

“…These cells were then incubated for 24, 48 and 72 hours with conditioned medium of AD-MSCs (ADMSC-CM) to investigate the effects of ADMSC-CM on sperm vacuolation, DNA fragmentation, and oxidative stress levels. Sperm vacuolization and DNA fragmentation decreased significantly in the samples incubated for 24 hours, while other parameters remained stable [38].…”

Secretions released from mesenchymal stem cells improve spermatogenesis restoration of cytotoxic treatment with busulfan in azoospermia mice

“…First, to date, many of these studies have focused exclusively on MSC secretion, replacing MSC transplantation in degenerative and inflammatory diseases such as including ischaemia, intrauterine adhesion and high sperm DNA fragmentation. (Bader et al., 2019; Ebrahim et al., 2018; Mokarizadeh et al., 2013), which suggest that MSC secretion has most of the characteristic of MSC. Second, noncell‐based therapies lack the oncogenic risk and uncontrolled cell division.…”

Adipose Mesenchymal Stromal Cell-Derived Exosomes Prevent Testicular Torsion Injury via Activating PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK1/2 Pathways

“…In addition, ADSC-Exos have shown promising efficacy in the treatment of erectile dysfunction caused by conditions such as diabetes mellitus and postradical prostatectomy [ 24 , 25 ]. In a recent study, Bader et al demonstrated that cell culture medium containing ADSC-Exos could improve sperm parameters in a concentration- and time-dependent manner [ 26 ]. However, alleviation of testicular I/R injury by ADSC-Exos has not been reported.…”