COVID-19 associates with semen inflammation and sperm quality impairment that reverses in the short term after disease recovery

MARTINEZ, MARÍA SOL; FERREYRA, FERNANDO NICOLÁS; PAIRA, DANIELA ANDREA; RIVERO, VIRGINIA ELENA; OLMEDO, JOSÉ JAVIER; TISSERA, ANDREA DANIELA; MOLINA, ROSA ISABEL; MOTRICH, RUBÉN DARÍO

Frontiers in Physiology

John D Imig-University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Lugar: Little Rock, United States; Año: 2023 vol. 14

Introduction: COVID-19 exerts deleterious effects on the respiratory,cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems, causing moresevere disease in men than in women. However, cumulative reported dataabout the putative consequences on the male reproductive tract and fertilityare controversial. Furthermore, the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection arestill uncertain.Methods: In this study, we prospectively evaluated levels of inflammatorycytokines and leukocytes in semen and sperm quality parameters in a cohortof 231 reproductive-aged male patients, unvaccinated, who had recovered frommild or severe COVID-19 and in 62 healthy control individuals. Sperm quality wasassessed early (less than 3 months) and long (more than 3 and up to 6 months)after having COVID-19. Interestingly, and unlike most reported studies, availableextensive background and baseline data on patients’ sperm quality allowedperforming a more accurate analysis of COVID-19 effects on sperm quality.Results: Significantly higher levels of IL-1β, TNF and IFNγ were detected in semenfrom patients recently recovered from mild and/or severe COVID-19 with respectto control individuals indicating semen inflammation. Moreover, patientsrecovered from mild and/or severe COVID-19 showed significantly reducedsemen volume, lower total sperm counts, and impaired sperm motility andviability. Interestingly, all observed alterations returned to baseline values after3 or more months after disease recovery.Discussion: These results indicate that COVID-19 associates with semeninflammation and impaired semen quality early after disease. However, longCOVID-19 seems not to include long-term detrimental consequences on malefertility potential since the observed alterations were reversible after 1-2spermatogenesis cycles. These data constitute compelling evidence allowing abetter understanding of COVID-19 associated sequelae, fundamental for semencollection in assisted reproduction.