title: Serum Metabolomic Profiling Identifies Characterization of Non-Obstructive Azoospermic Men.
abstract: Male infertility is considered a common health problem, and non-obstructive azoospermia with unclear pathogenesis is one of the most challenging tasks for clinicians. The objective of this study was to investigate the differential serum metabolic pattern in non-obstructive azoospermic men and to determine potential biomarkers related to spermatogenic dysfunction. Serum samples from patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (n= 22) and healthy controls (n= 31) were examined using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Serum metabolomic profiling could differentiate non-obstructive azoospermic patients from healthy control subjects. A total of 24 metabolites were screened and identified as potential markers, many of which are involved in energy production, oxidative stress and cell apoptosis in spermatogenesis. Moreover, the results showed that various metabolic pathways, including d-glutamine and d-glutamate metabolism, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, the citrate cycle and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, were disrupted in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia. Our results indicated that the serum metabolic disorders may contribute to the etiology of non-obstructive azoospermia. This study suggested that serum metabolomics could identify unique metabolic patterns of non-obstructive azoospermia and provide novel insights into the pathogenesis underlying male infertility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. zhezhang@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, General Hospital of Jinan Military, Jinan 250000, China. sanyuannanke1@163.com.
authors.forename: Yingwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, the Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, and Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences of Ministry of Education, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China. liuchangjie@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Changjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, the Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, and Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences of Ministry of Education, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China. pkuzhao@163.com.
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. yangyzh1987@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yuzhuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. dradam@foxmail.com.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sperm Bank, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. zhanghongliang@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongliang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. haochenglin292@163.com.
authors.forename: Haocheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, the Institute of Systems Biomedicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, and Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Sciences of Ministry of Education, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China. zhengl@bjmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lemin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China. jianghui55@163.com.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053713:Azoospermia / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: HPLC-MS/MS; biomarkers; metabolomic; non-obstructive azoospermia; serum