Establishment of a New Human Sperm Quality Assessment Technique Using Mitochondrial Metabolism as an Indicator and an Attempt to Maintain Quality

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K09438
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56030:Urology-related
• Research Institution: Kansai Medical University
• Principal Investigator: TANIGUCHI Hisanori 関西医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (90460815)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 松尾 禎之 関西医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (50447926)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 精子 / 細胞外フラックス / 膿精液症

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study successfully established a system for measuring extracellular flux of human sperm mitochondria by gaining knowledge on the optimization of the coating substrate of the analysis plate and the composition of the analysis medium. The next issue in the evaluation of sperm quality in actual clinical practice was the overall semen environment. Therefore, we conducted a new study on the microbiome in pyospermia. We established a suitable method for semen microbiome analysis using nanopore sequencing, and the results of the pilot study suggested that bacteria other than Streptococcus spp. form their own microbiome in the pyospermia.

Free Research Field

アンドロロジー

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、精子のミトコンドリア代謝機構の測定系を新たに確立した事で、少子化社会における本邦の男性不妊診療の発展に貢献できる可能性がある。さらに、近年注目されている微生物環境研究の男性不妊分野の草分けとして、膿精液症のマイクロバイオーム解析に着手することが出来た。