Post Date December, 03 2023
Sperm is a germ cell produced by the male testis, and the quantity and quality of sperm have an important impact on male fertility. After spermatozoa are produced in the testis, they are mixed with epididymal fluid, prostate fluid, and seminal vesicle fluid to form semen during transportation through the vas deferens. At the same time, spermatozoa also develop and mature under the nourishment and protection of reproductive organ secretions such as epididymal fluid, prostate fluid, and seminal vesicle fluid.
The impact of prostatitis on male reproductive function is mainly related to decreased sexual function, direct and indirect damage to sperm caused by pathogens. When acute prostatitis or severe chronic prostatitis occurs, temporary erectile dysfunction and decreased libido can occur due to symptoms such as pain in the urethra and perineum.
Research has confirmed that mycoplasma such as ureaplasma urealyticum can adsorb on sperm cells, interfere with sperm motility and damage sperm.
During the process of growth and reproduction, various pathogens produce toxic metabolites that can affect sperm activity and even cause sperm death.
In patients with chronic infectious prostatitis, especially those with severe infection, semen examination often reveals a decrease in the number of live sperm and decreased motility.
In patients with severe prostatitis, male infertility or abnormal fetal development can often occur, resulting in spontaneous abortion and congenital malformations of the fetus after pregnancy. The author has encountered 10 cases of husband and wife who were unable to give birth normally. After various examinations in the hospital, the husband was diagnosed with chronic prostatitis.
Among these patients, 3 were infertile after marriage, 2 had spontaneous abortion due to their wife's 2-3 months of pregnancy, and 5 had active contraception due to a diagnosis of chronic bacterial prostatitis after marriage. Ten husbands underwent etiological tests in our room, and bacteria such as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, and Diphtheria were detected. After receiving different courses of anti infective treatment for these patients with prostatitis, 6 of them gave birth to a healthy boy after the prostate fluid was sterile; Three cases each gave birth to a healthy girl with bacteria still present in the prostate; After one case of prostatitis was cured, she had not given birth due to other reasons.
In clinical observations, it has been found that chronic bacterial prostatitis has an impact on the fertility of patients and the gender of the fetus they are bearing. However, subsequent studies on the impact of bacterial prostatitis on animal fertility have not yielded any meaningful data.
The authors established a rat model of bacterial prostatitis by infecting the prostate of rats with Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively, to observe the fertility of the animals during bacterial prostatitis and the sex ratio of the offspring they produced. The results showed that the rats with bacterial prostatitis not only had similar fertility as normal control rats, but also had similar sex ratios of offspring as normal control rats.
