Seminal but not serum levels of holotranscobalamin are altered in morbid obesity and correlate with semen quality: a pilot single centre study

Samavat, J, Cantini, G, Lorubbio, M, Degl’Innocenti, S, Adaikalakoteswari, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2974-3388, Facchiano, E, Lucchese, M, Maggi, M, Saravanan, P, Ognibene, A and Luconi, M, 2019. Seminal but not serum levels of holotranscobalamin are altered in morbid obesity and correlate with semen quality: a pilot single centre study. Nutrients, 11 (7): 1540. ISSN 2072-6643

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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.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Nutrients
Creators:	Samavat, J., Cantini, G., Lorubbio, M., Degl’Innocenti, S., Adaikalakoteswari, A., Facchiano, E., Lucchese, M., Maggi, M., Saravanan, P., Ognibene, A. and Luconi, M.
Publisher:	MDPI
Date:	8 July 2019
Volume:	11
Number:	7
ISSN:	2072-6643
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/nu11071540 DOI nu11071540 Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	11 Jul 2019 13:37
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2019 13:37
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/37067

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