Research progress of oxidative stress on male infertility

Due to the influence of many factors, such as aging, lifestyle, environment and working pressure, the semen quality of male has been decreasing, the incidence rate of infertility has been increasing year by year. The causes and influence factors of infertility have become the research focus in global reproductive medicine. Reactive oxygen species is essential for many physiological reactions. Reactive oxygen species plays an important role in the production and maintenance of male reproductive physiological processes, such as sexual hormone secretion, sperm capacitation and motility, acrosome reaction, etc. It is not only an important regulator of sperm function, but also a second messenger of many cells involved in extracellular signal regulation. There are many exogenous and endogenous factors that can lead to the production of reactive oxygen species beyond the antioxidant capacity of cells, damage the body's oxidative defense system, cause oxidative stress damage, and have adverse effects on signal pathway, energy metabolism, gene expression and protein structure, thus causing damage to reproductive organs and sperm functions, reducing the fertilization potential and the ability of gametes to support normal embryonic development. It may directly or indirectly induce infertility by affecting the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis and/or interfering other hormone axis. This paper reviews the essence and source of oxidative stress, the important external and internal factors that affect the production of oxidative stress in male reproductive system, expounds the physiological effect of oxidative stress on male reproductive system, and analyzes the destructive effect and possible mechanism of oxidative stress on male reproductive system from organ at cellular and molecular levels. Finally, the countermeasures are put forward to explore the standardized application of antioxidant therapy in clinical, to prevent and treat oxidative stress injury of male reproductive system, and to provide reference for the treatment of male infertility.