Effects of zinc,selenium and antioxidants in seminal plasma on male infertility

Objective To explore the effects of zinc(Zn),selenium(Se) and glutathione(GSH) in seminal plasma on male infertility.Methods A total of 26 fertile men’s semen samples and 139 infertile patients’ semen samples were detected for the concentrations of Zn and Se,and the level of GSH.Results The concentrations of Zn and Se in the infertile patient group were lower than those in the healthy men group,but only the concentration of Zn had a significant difference between the two groups.The levels of GSHt,GSSG and GSHr were significantly higher in the healthy men group than in the abnormal group.There was a significant association between seminal GSHt and sperm motility.GSSG was highly correlated with sperm motility and negatively associated with abnormal morphology.GSHr was significantly associated with the total sperm motility and sperm count.Conclusions The decreased seminal GSH and deficiencies of Zn and Se are implicated in low sperm quality and they may be important indirect biomarkers of male infertility.