Seminal but not serum levels of holotranscobalamin are altered in morbid obesity and correlate with semen quality: a pilot single centre study
Samavat, Jinous Cantini, Giulia Lorubbio, Maria Degl'Innocenti, Selene Adaikalakoteswari, Antonysunil Facchiano, Enrico Lucchese, Marcello Maggi, Mario Saravanan, Ponnusamy Ognibene, Agostino
Samavat, Jinous
Cantini, Giulia
Lorubbio, Maria
Degl'Innocenti, Selene
Adaikalakoteswari, Antonysunil
Facchiano, Enrico
Lucchese, Marcello
Maggi, Mario
Saravanan, Ponnusamy
Ognibene, Agostino
Abstract
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is an essential cofactor in the one-carbon metabolism. One-carbon metabolism is a set of complex biochemical reactions, through which methyl groups are utilised or generated, and thus plays a vital role to many cellular functions in humans. Low levels of cobalamin have been associated to metabolic/reproductive pathologies. However, cobalamin status has never been investigated in morbid obesity in relation with the reduced semen quality. We analysed the cross-sectional data of 47-morbidly-obese and 21 lean men at Careggi University Hospital and evaluated total cobalamin (CBL) and holotranscobalamin (the active form of B12; holoTC) levels in serum and semen. Both seminal and serum concentrations of holoTC and CBL were lower in morbidly obese compared to lean men, although the difference did not reach any statistical significance for serum holoTC. Seminal CBL and holoTC were significantly higher than serum levels in both groups. Significant positive correlations were observed between seminal holoTC and total sperm motility (r = 0.394, p = 0.012), sperm concentration (r = 0.401, p = 0.009), total sperm number (r = 0.343, p = 0.028), and negative correlation with semen pH (r = -0.535, p = 0.0001). ROC analysis supported seminal holoTC as the best predictor of sperm number (AUC = 0.769 ± 0.08, p = 0.006). Our findings suggest that seminal rather than serum levels of holoTC may represent a good marker of semen quality in morbidly obese subjects.
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Date
2019-07-08
Type
Article
Subject
Endocrinology
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Citation
Samavat J, Cantini G, Lorubbio M, Degl'Innocenti S, Adaikalakoteswari A, Facchiano E, Lucchese M, Maggi M, Saravanan P, Ognibene A, Luconi M. Seminal but not Serum Levels of Holotranscobalamin are Altered in Morbid Obesity and Correlate with Semen Quality: A Pilot Single Centre Study. Nutrients. 2019 Jul 8;11(7):1540. doi: 10.3390/nu11071540.
Journal / Source Title
Nutrients
DOI
10.3390/nu11071540
PMID
31288401
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher’s URL
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc6682947/