Seminal Extracellular Vesicles and Their Involvement in Male (In)Fertility: A Systematic Review.

Seminal plasma contains numerous extracellular vesicles (sEVs). Since sEVs are apparently involved in male (in)fertility, this systematic review focused on studies specifically investigating such relationship. Embase, PubMed, and Scopus databases were searched up to 31 December 2022, primarily identifying a total of 1440 articles. After processing for screening and eligibility, 305 studies were selected as they focused on sEVs, and 42 of them were considered eligible because they included the word fertility or a related word such as infertility, subfertility, fertilization, and recurrent pregnancy loss in the title, objective(s), and/or keywords. Only nine of them met the inclusion criteria, namely (a) conducting experiments aimed at associating sEVs with fertility concerns and (b) isolating and adequately characterizing sEVs. Six studies were conducted on humans, two on laboratory animals, and one on livestock. The studies highlighted some sEV molecules, specifically proteins and small non-coding RNAs, that showed differences between fertile and subfertile or infertile males. The content of sEVs was also related to sperm fertilizing capacity, embryo development, and implantation. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that several of the highlighted sEV fertility-related proteins would be cross-linked to each other and involved in biological pathways related to (i) EV release and loading and (ii) plasma membrane organization.

International journal of molecular sciences. 2023 Mar 02*** epublish ***

Ana Parra, Lorena Padilla, Xiomara Lucas, Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez, Isabel Barranco, Jordi Roca

Department of Medicine & Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, International Excellence Campus for Higher Education and Research "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain., Biotechnology of Animal & Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain., Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences (BKV), BKH/Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Linköping University, 58185 Linköping, Sweden., Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Ozzano dell'Emilia, 40064 Bologna, Italy.