Medical Physiology

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Browsing Medical Physiology by browse.metadata.advisor "Basson, E."

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    Chronic stress and semen parameters
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Van der Merwe, Esmari; Du Plessis, Stefan; Basson, E.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Dept. of Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It has been well documented that stress has adverse effects on the body and can lead to various health issues. Stress has been investigated as a cause for unexplained infertility in both men and women. Semen quality is a key indicator of male reproductive health. Numerous studies have been done on the effect of stress on semen parameters and an association between chronic psychological stress and poor semen parameters have been reported. Managing psychological stress can help to improve the health of an individual. In order to address the problem it is therefore important to determine if an individual experience high levels of stress. This can be established through psychological questionnaires and various biomarkers, such as the screening test for time urgency perfectionism (TUP) and alpha-amylase in saliva. In general, more or less 84% of couples are estimated to conceive naturally within a year. The remaining 16% of couples are affected by infertility. Within this group, it is estimated that male reproductive factors are the sole cause of one-third of cases and a contributing factor in another 20% of cases. Management of chronic stress in female patients has shown improved IVF rate of 67% or higher. However, as of yet no study has been performed on males to correlate the levels of TUP-stress, alpha-amylase to semen parameters as well as other seminal stress markers such as DNA fragmentation and oxidative stress (ROS). This study compared TUP-categories (Low, Moderate, High) with respect to semen parameters, alpha-amylase levels, age and BMI and investigated if increased alpha-amylase levels correlate with semen parameters, age and BMI. The experiments were performed at Medfem Fertility Clinic in Bryanston Johannesburg and the Division of Medical Physiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Stellenbosch University. A total of 62 male patients of Medfem Fertility Clinic adhering to the basic requirements enrolled in the study. Results showed no significant difference between age, semen parameters and alpha-amylase between TUP categories. Men in the High TUP category had a significant higher BMI compared to those in the Low and Moderate categories. No significant correlation was found between alpha-amylase, age, BMI and semen parameters. This study was unsuccessful in proving a significant relationship between the TUP categories, age and semen parameters. The High TUP category did show a significantly higher BMI compared to the Low and Moderate TUP groups. This finding confirms that there is a link between psychological stress and elevated BMI. Although there was no significant difference between the TUP categories with regards to sORP values, the Moderate and High categories were both higher than the normal value for sORP in semen. This implies that chronic stress leads to elevated levels of oxidative stress in semen. No relationship was found between TUP categories and alpha-amylase levels. Although both are used to detect chronic stress, the TUP questionnaire is used to detect personality types who are prone to chronic stress, whilst salivary alpha-amylase is a biomarker for chronic stress and functions in a completely different way. It is possible that whilst both can be used to detect chronic stress it is not advised to attempt to establish a relationship between the two as the mechanisms of both are very different.