The effect of obesity on human reproductive health and foetal life

Basic Phenotyping of Male Fertility from 2019 to 2020 at the Human Sperm Bank of Fudan University

The aim of this cross-sectional survey was to analyze the semen parameters of volunteers from the Human Sperm Bank of Fudan University, as well as the related factors influencing these parameters. From January 2019 to December 2020, semen parameters from a total of 5214 men were included in this survey. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to detect differences associated with several independent variables. A total of 5214 volunteers were included. The volunteers were registered in 33 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities (including Macau and Taiwan) and 294 prefecture-level cities. The average age of volunteers was 27.40 years. Overall, 76.50% of the volunteers had a college education or higher. Volunteers with BMI values of 18.5-23.9 kg/m² accounted for 60.70% of participants. Semen parameters were significantly different according to season, education level, duration of abstinence, age group and BMI. The basic male fertility phenotypes (semen parameters) showed new trends in the study period, and accurate long-term tracking of male semen parameters will help researchers to better understand the changes in male fertility phenotypes (semen).

The Mare: A Pertinent Model for Human Assisted Reproductive Technologies?

Although there are large differences between horses and humans for reproductive anatomy, follicular dynamics, mono-ovulation, and embryo development kinetics until the blastocyst stage are similar. In contrast to humans, however, horses are seasonal animals and do not have a menstrual cycle. Moreover, horse implantation takes place 30 days later than in humans. In terms of artificial reproduction techniques (ART), oocytes are generally matured in vitro in horses because ovarian stimulation remains inefficient. This allows the collection of oocytes without hormonal treatments. In humans, in vivo matured oocytes are collected after ovarian stimulation. Subsequently, only intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is performed in horses to produce embryos, whereas both in vitro fertilization and ICSI are applied in humans. Embryos are transferred only as blastocysts in horses. In contrast, four cells to blastocyst stage embryos are transferred in humans. Embryo and oocyte cryopreservation has been mastered in humans, but not completely in horses. Finally, both species share infertility concerns due to ageing and obesity. Thus, reciprocal knowledge could be gained through the comparative study of ART and infertility treatments both in woman and mare, even though the horse could not be used as a single model for human ART.