Impact of Testis Inflammatory State on Sperm Vitality.
To investigate the potential impacy of SARS-CoV-2 infection on sperm
concentration, motility and vitality, we assessed macroscopic and
microscopic parameters of seminal fluid (Table 1 ). Our
findings, as shown in Figure 1, confirmed that spermatozoa with
higher motility percentages exhibited greater vitality scores (p=0,0334;Figure 1 ). Furthermore, we analyzed the presence of
inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in the seminal fluid of our cohort
(Figure 2A ) to evaluate the inflammatory state of the testis.
Specifically, we observed elevated levels of IL-6, IFN-γ and IL-8.
Notably, the concentration of IL-6 positively correlated with
concentration of IL-8 (p<0,0001; Figure 2B ), and the
two samples with the highest IL-6 concentration had also exhibited the
highest IL-8 level (red circle, Figure 2A ).
To determine whether high levels of inflammatory cytokines could impact
spermatozoa and affect vitality and motility we conducted linear
regression analyses. Interestingly, we found that IL-6 and IL-8 level
did not significantly influence spermatozoa motility (Figure
3A ), but both cytokine levels were positively correlated with reduced
spermatozoa vitality (IL-6 p=0,0493 and IL-8 p=0.0350; Figure
3B ). Additionally, we explored the correlations among various
inflammatory cytokines and chemokines detected in the seminal plasma.
Notably, we observed a positive correlation between GMCSF level and IL-6
(p=0,0097; Figure 4A ), GMCSF and IFN-γ (p=0,0219;Figure 4B ), TNF and IFN-γ (p=0,035; Figure 4C ).