Antioxidant Supplementation on Fertility

Dear Colleagues,

Couples’ subfertility may be attributable to male factors, female factors, or a combination of both. However, no etiological factors have been detected in the infertile couples subpopulation. These couples are characterized as having idiopathic infertility. It is has been proposed that oxidative stress (OS) is involved in the pathophysiology of subfertility, and antioxidants are thought to reduce the detrimental consequences of OS, which are manifested both in the standard parameters of analysis and in the outcome of sperm functional assays in subfertile couples. Moreover, OS has been implicated in several placental disorders and pregnancy pathologies. Systemic disorders and conditions leading to infection and inflammation are commonly attributed to enhanced OS; thus, the discovery of inflammatory markers and treatment modalities will have major clinical implications for male infertility. Diet might also affect couples’ reproductive potential, although the involved biochemical mechanisms remain poorly elucidated. In the last decade, the consumption of organic food has increased worldwide, with consumers hoping to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases despite the scarce scientific evidence supporting this phenomenon. In addition, available knockout animal models might help us to better understand the role of different antioxidant enzymes in male reproductive capacity, and the development of novel animal models lacking different antioxidants is crucial to understanding the consequences of high ROS levels in the human reproductive chain.

Oocytes have only a limited capacity to repair sperm-derived decays, and therefore reducing sperm DNA damage linked to OS represents a promising approach. For example, a detailed analysis of DNA fragmentation or lack of nuclear condensation is mandatory prior to any treatment. Antioxidants represent readily available and inexpensive pharmaceutical compounds. On the other hand, there is a lack of high-quality evidence demonstrating antioxidant administration’s effect on infertile couples, whether beneficial or detrimental. Instead, antioxidant supplements with ambiguous efficiency and potentially detrimental effects are often given arbitrarily. For that reason, oxidation reduction has emerged as a viable ancillary tool for basic semen analysis, measuring the overall balance between oxidative and reductive stress.

This Special Issue is open to all investigations exploring antioxidant supplementation for fertility and providing preliminary findings with potential for clinical translation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Effect of antioxidant supplementation on male fertility;
• Effect of antioxidants on sperm genetic damage and sperm energetic metabolism;
• Effect of antioxidant supplementation on female fertility;
• Oxidative stress in pregnancy and fertility pathologies;
• Effect of antioxidant supplementation on conventional and advanced sperm function tests;
• The role of infection and inflammation-mediated OS in fertility;
• Investigation of antioxidant enzymes and male fertility through knockout animal models;
• Diet and its impact on fertility.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Fotios Dimitriadis
Prof. Dr. Nikolaos Sofikitis
Guest Editors

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• oxidative stress
• antioxidants
• couple subfertility
• OS-mediated sperm genetic damage
• OS and conventional or advanced sperm function tests
• infection and inflammation-mediated OS