This study was designed to investigate the metabolic and transcriptional alterations in seminal fluid caused by asthenozoospermia (AS). To address these issues, a method of metabonomics based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was performed to identify some crucial biomarkers and transcription levels of the enzymes in seminal fluid. Seminal fluid samples were collected from 87 AS patients and 73 healthy males with normozoospermia. The quantitative analysis by UPLC-MS/MS showed that 19 metabolites in seminal plasma were associated with AS, and they were involved in several metabolic pathways, such as energy metabolism, purine metabolism, methionine cycle, and branched chain amino acid metabolism. Among these metabolites, the levels of citric acid, malic acid, succinic acid, and pyruvic acid, which are related to energy metabolism, were collectively reduced in the AS group, whereas the lactic acid level was enhanced. These results indicated that lesser energy source (adenosine triphosphate) was produced through the anaerobic glycolysis pathway rather than via aerobic catabolism of suger and tricarboxylic acid cycle, resulting in reduced power of sperms. Meanwhile, partial least squares discriminant analysis showed significant differences in metabolic profiles between the AS and control groups. In addition, RT-qPCR results revealed that the expression levels of four genes encoding fructokinase citrate synthase, succinate dehydrogenase, and spermine synthase, which were related to energy metabolism, were decreased in the AS group. The 23 descriptors with differential expression in AS may be valuable for the diagnosis and sequential study on AS. These results will help highlight the role of sperm inactivity in AS pathogenesis.
Keywords: RT-qPCR; UPLC-MS/MS; asthenozoospermia; seminal fluid; tricarboxylic acid.
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.