REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1653975
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Factors Impacting Spermatogenesis and Potential Therapeutic InterventionsView all articles
Diabetic Testicular Dysfunction and Spermatogenesis Impairment: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Prospects
Provisionally accepted
- 1Qinghai University Medical College, Xining, China
- 2Southeast University Zhongda Hospital, Nanjing, China
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With the global prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) steadily increasing, its impact on male reproductive health has become a growing area of concern. Diabetes-induced testicular damage involves alterations in testicular cell function, hormone levels, and the integrity of the blood-testis barrier (BTB), ultimately disrupting spermatogenesis.The key pathogenic factors include hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs).This review synthesizes the latest research on diabetes-induced testicular dysfunction and spermatogenic impairment, while also exploring potential therapeutic strategies. Current interventions are primarily focused on glycemic control, with supplementary treatments involving Chinese medicine, nanoparticles, and probiotics. Although most of the current evidence is derived from preclinical studies, these findings provide important insights that may inform future clinical research on diabetes-related male reproductive dysfunction.
Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, Oxidative Stress, ages, Testicular damage, spermato genesis impairment
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Tong, Jin and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Baofang Jin, Southeast University Zhongda Hospital, Nanjing, China
Dalin Sun, Southeast University Zhongda Hospital, Nanjing, China
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