One-carbon Cycle Support Rescues Sperm Damage in Experimentally Induced Varicocoele in Rats

Objectives: To investigate whether micronutrients in support of the one-carbon cycle and glutathione synthesis are effective in improving sperm damage after surgical varicocoele induction in rats and whether any effect is achieved without a rebound reductive stress as seen with oral antioxidants.

Materials And Methods: Surgical varicocoele was induced in adult male Wistar rats and resulted in significant damage to the testis and sperm cells measured at 2 and 4 months after surgery. At 2 months after surgery, rats received a 2-month oral supplementation in support of the one-carbon cycle containing B vitamins (B2, B3, B6, folic acid and B12), N-acetyl-cysteine, zinc, small amounts of vitamin E, and a natural source of betalains and quercetine (Condensyl ; Parthenogen SAGL, Lugano, Switzerland and Nurilia SARL, Lyon, France).

Results: One-carbon cycle supplementation, compared to untreated controls, significantly improved the morphometric characteristics of testis (P < 0.05), sperm concentration, motility and abnormal morphology (P < 0.001), sperm chromatin condensation (aniline blue staining, P < 0.05), sperm DNA damage (acridine orange staining, P < 0.05) and sperm lipid peroxidation (BODIPY C11, P < 0.001). The improvement in both nuclear condensation and DNA damage and the lack of excessive inhibition of lipid peroxidation confirmed that no reductive stress had occurred.

Conclusions: Micronutrients in support of the one-carbon cycle are effective in the treatment of surgically induced varicocoele in rats, probably by activating natural antioxidant defences and epigenetics. These results support the idea that essential micronutrients including B vitamins may also have a positive influence in clinical varicocoele, which should be tested in prospective clinical trials.