Social support modifies an association between work stress and semen quality: Results from 384 Chinese male workers

Zou, Peng; Sun, Lei; Chen, Qing; Zhang, Guowei; Wang, Yang; Zeng, Yingfei; Zhou, Nina; Liu, Ying; Liu, Jinyi; Ao, Lin; Cao, Jia; Yang, Huan

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2018.10.013

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The effects of psychological stress on male reproductive health is an interesting and worthwhile area of study. Our previous studies demonstrated that depression and work-related stress were negatively associated with sperm concentration and total sperm count in Chinese men [19,20], which is consistent with findings from other countries [2,4]. In this study, spermatogenesis impairment was induced by chronic stress in the uCMS rat model.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Mechanisms of Stress-Induced Spermatogenesis Impairment in Male Rats Following Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (uCMS)

Zou

Wang

et al. 2019

IJMS

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The negative association between psychological stress and male fertility has been known for many years. This study was aimed at (i) identifying spermatogenesis impairment induced by psychological stress in rats and (ii) exploring the role of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling in these adverse effects (if they exist). Male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to a six-week period of unpredictable chronic mild stress (uCMS) along with cotreatment of GR antagonist RU486 (1 mg/kg/day). Testicular damage was assessed by testicular pathological evaluation, epididymal sperm concentration, serum testosterone levels, testicular apoptotic cell measurements, and cell cycle progression analyses. Rats in the uCMS group had decreased levels of serum testosterone and decreased epididymal sperm concentration. The uCMS-treated rats also had decreased numbers of spermatids and increased levels of apoptotic seminiferous tubules; additionally, cell cycle progression of spermatogonia was arrested at the G0/G1 phase. Furthermore, uCMS exposure caused an increase in serum corticosterone level and activated GR signaling in the testes including upregulated GR expression. RU486 treatment suppressed GR signaling and alleviated the damaging effects of stress, resulting in an increased epididymal sperm concentration. Overall, this work demonstrated for the first time that the activation of GR signaling mediates stress-induced spermatogenesis impairment and that this outcome is related to cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in germ cells.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Mechanisms of Stress-Induced Spermatogenesis Impairment in Male Rats Following Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (uCMS)

Zou

Wang

et al. 2019

IJMS

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Chronic psychologic stress can lead to impairment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which can lead to reduced testosterone, decreased prolactin, and changes in growth hormone levels (Nargund, 2015). A study of 384 men surveyed with a validated work-stress questionnaire who also provided semen samples found that higher work stress was associated with higher risk of lower sperm concentration (Zou et al, 2019). Similar effects have been seen with school stress in medical students (Eskiocak et al, 2006).…”

Section: Psychological Stressmentioning

confidence: 89%

Male fertility as a marker for health

Chen

Belladelli

Giudice

2022

Reproductive BioMedicine Online

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Male reproduction is a complex biologic process, and male factor infertility is increasingly recognized as a biomarker for overall male health. Emerging data suggests associations between male reproduction and medical disease (genetic, infectious, chronic comorbid conditions), psychological disease, environmental exposures, dietary habits, medications and substances of abuse, and even socioeconomic factors. There is also evidence that a diagnosis of male fertility is associated with future disease risk including cancer, metabolic disease, and mortality. As such, there is a growing view that the male fertility evaluation is an opportunity to improve a man's health beyond his immediate reproductive goals, and also highlights the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach.

show abstract

“…Psychological stress also affects the work environment, influencing some of them heavily. Consulting responses from the Job Content Questionnaire, reduced sperm concentration and count values were detected (55), and men who experienced two or more stressful life events in the past year had a lower percentage of motile sperm and a lower percentage of morphologically normal sperm (56). Cited studies, summarised in Table 5, demonstrate the validity of psychological stress as an influencing agent for male impairment.…”

Section: Psychological Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of physical agents’ exposure in male infertility: A critical review

Giulioni

Maurizi²,

Galosi³

2023

Arch Ital Urol Androl

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: A decrease in semen quality is an increasingly widespread pathological condition worldwide. Jobs and lifestyles have changed a lot with the advancement of technology in the last few decades, and a new series of risk factors for male infertility have spread. Objective: This review aims to summarize the current literature on this relationship, evaluating alterations in semen parameters and hormonal proﬁle. Methods: A deep research was performed through MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science on articles regarding the relationship between physical agents and male fertility over the last twenty years. Some physical agents already associated with male infertility, such as heat and radiation, while emerging ones, such as physical exertion, psychological stress and seden-tary activities, were newly considered.Results: Most studies described sperm quality after exposure. Overall sperm impairment was shown after radiation and alter-ation of speciﬁc parameters, such as sperm concentration, were observed after psychological stress and sedentary work. In addi-tion, an association was also reported between physical exertion and hormonal proﬁle, especially pituitary hormones and testos-terone.Conclusions: Although the associations between physical agents and male infertility are suggestive, the level of evidence of the studies is not adequate to deﬁne their inﬂuence, except for phys-ical exertion. Therefore, new prospective studies are necessary for the validation of the correlation and the possible safeguard-ing of the exposed working classes.

show abstract

Social support modifies an association between work stress and semen quality: Results from 384 Chinese male workers

Cited by 20 publications

References 50 publications

Mechanisms of Stress-Induced Spermatogenesis Impairment in Male Rats Following Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (uCMS)

Mechanisms of Stress-Induced Spermatogenesis Impairment in Male Rats Following Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress (uCMS)

Male fertility as a marker for health

The role of physical agents’ exposure in male infertility: A critical review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About