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Updated: Aug 4, 2026
Large Scale Non-targeted Metabolomic Profiling of Serum by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry UPLC-MS
Published on: March 14, 2013
Low-polarity untargeted metabolomic profiling as a tool to gain insight into seminal fluid
Eulalia Olesti1,2,3, Julien Boccard1,2,3, Rita Rahban3,4
1School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Introduction:
A decrease in sperm cell count has been observed along the last several decades, especially in the most developed regions of the world. The use of metabolomics to study the composition of the seminal fluid is a promising approach to gain access to the molecular mechanisms underlying this fact.
Objectives:
In the present work, we aimed at relating metabolomic profiles of young healthy men to their semen quality parameters obtained from conventional microscopic analysis.
Methods:
An untargeted metabolomics approach focusing on low- to mid-polarity compounds was used to analyze a subset of seminal fluid samples from a cohort of over 2700 young healthy men.
Results:
Our results show that a broad metabolic profiling comprising several families of compounds (including acyl-carnitines, steroids, and other lipids) can contribute to effectively distinguish samples provided by individuals exhibiting low or high absolute sperm counts.
Conclusion:
A number of metabolites involved in sexual development and function, signaling, and energy metabolism were highlighted as being distinctive of samples coming from either group, proving untargeted metabolomics as a promising tool to better understand the pathophysiological processes responsible for male fertility impairment.
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