Is there a relation between serum methylarginine levels and infertility?

Yasin Saygın; Abdullah Sivrikaya; Turan Akdağ; Duygu Dursunoğlu; Mehmet Kaynar; Gülsüm Abuşoğlu; Ali Ünlü

doi:10.1515/hmbci-2020-0083

Article

Is there a relation between serum methylarginine levels and infertility?

Yasin Saygın , Abdullah Sivrikaya , Turan Akdağ , Duygu Dursunoğlu , Mehmet Kaynar , Gülsüm Abuşoğlu and Ali Ünlü

Published/Copyright: January 27, 2021

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From the journal Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation Volume 42 Issue 3

Abstract

Objectives

Infertility is defined as the absence of pregnancy within the reproductive period despite regular sexual intercourse. Methylarginines are formed as a result of methylation of arginine residues in proteins and formed in three forms as asymmetric dimethyl arginine (ADMA), symmetrical dimethyl arginine (SDMA) and monomethylarginine (L-NMMA). So, here, we aimed to evaluate arginine and their derivatives levels in fertile and infertile individuals.

Methods

Present study were consist of 30 oligozoospermia patients (proven by spermiogram analysis) and 30 healthy individuals with normozoospermia group who were applied to the urology department. With blood samples taken from individuals, serum methylarginine and its derivatives levels were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Clinic data and demographic characteristics of individuals were also recorded at the same time.

Results

The serum ADMA level (0.38 ± 0.07) of the oligozoospermia group was found to be significantly higher than the normozoospermia group (0.35 ± 0.05) (p=0.046). A positive correlation were observed between ADMA and SDMA (r=0.686, p=0.000), HArg and SDMA (r=0.611, p=0.001), citrulline and L-NMMA (r=0.595, p=0.001) in patients with oligosospermia. The increase in SDMA, arginine and HArg levels and a decrease in L-NMMA and citrulline levels were not significant as statistically. Also, the ADMA level was found to be high in individuals with low sperm concentration.

Conclusions

Consequently, serum ADMA levels of individuals with oligozoospermia were statistically significantly higher than those with normozoospermia. As proposal, determination of ADMA levels may be a potential biomarker parameter in terms of early diagnosis of fertility and infertility.

Keywords: fertile; infertile; methylarginine; normozoospermia; oligozoospermia

Corresponding author: Turan Akdag, Meram Vocational School, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey, Phone: +90 505 659 73 50, E-mail: turanakdag570@gmail.com

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the study participants as well as the Department of Urology, Selcuk University Faculty of Medicine.

Research funding: Authors declare that they did not receive any financial support in this study.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: All authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Ethical approval: Present study was conducted in line with the ethical standards specified by the Declaration of Helsinki and local ethical committee approval (No: 2019/36).

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Received: 2020-11-25

Accepted: 2021-01-14

Published Online: 2021-01-27

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/hmbci-2020-0083

Keywords for this article

fertile; infertile; methylarginine; normozoospermia; oligozoospermia