Urolithin A safeguards against diabetes-induced pathospermia and embryotoxicity in rats

Diabetes mellitus (DM) as a chronic disease can negatively affect male fertility due to endocrine and metabolic pathways disruption. This study was implemented to appraise the possible beneficial effects of urolithin A (UA), a natural polyphenol produced by the gut microbiota, against DM adverse effects on epididymal sperms and pre-implantation embryo development in mature rats.

Forty mature male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to five equal groups including non-treated control group, DM group administered with intra-peritoneal streptozotocin (50 mg/kg), and three treated diabetic groups which received 25, 100, and 400 mg/kg of UA for 60 days orally. Thereafter, serum levels of testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH), and testicular total anti-oxidant capacity (TTAC) and malondialdehyde (TMDA), as well as sperm quantity and quality, in vivo fertility, and in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rate were rigorously assessed.

The UA exerted dose-dependent protective effects against DM-related negative impacts on biochemical (testosterone, FSH, LH, TTAC, and TMDA), spermatological (sperm count, motility, viability, and chromatin and DNA qualities), in vivo fertility, and embryological (IVF, and two-cell embryos, morulae, and blastocysts formation rates) parameters.

This study's outcomes spotlighted the promising protective functions of UA in DM-associated male reproductive disorders in rats, owing its weighty anti-oxidative properties.