Masters Degrees (Medical Physiology)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Medical Physiology) by Author "De Jager, Terri-Ann Lenice"

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    Observing the Effects of Anxiety Levels on Male Reproductive Parameters
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) De Jager, Terri-Ann Lenice; Du Plessis, Stefan S.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physiology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Literature presents a complex and often contradictory picture of the link between psychological stress and male fertility. Very limited information is available on the specific relationship between anxiety level and male fecundity. University students, when compared to the general population, exhibit signs of decreased mental health, with students having increased prevalence of depression, anxiety, psychosis and addictions. The aim of the study was to determine if there is a relationship between anxiety and reproductive parameters in a male student model and what that relationship is. Twenty-one male participants between the ages of 20 and 25 were recruited as a part of this study. Participants were asked to donate at 4 different time-points. At each time-point, a semen sample and blood sample were collected and a State Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire was filled in. A semen analysis, presented in a spermiogram report, was performed using computer-aided sperm analysis to gather information about the basic semen parameters e.g. sperm concentration, sperm motility and sperm kinematics. The percentage fragmented sperm DNA, sperm nitric oxide level and semen reactive oxygen species levels were investigated. The cytokine profile and cortisol level were investigated in both the seminal plasma and blood plasma. The student population observed in this study displayed increased anxiety levels when considering their state (39.0, SD=13.69, n=83) and trait (43.0, SD=12.55, n=83) anxiety scores, respectively. Blood plasma cortisol levels were noted to increase as state and trait scores increased. Cortisol was thought to have an overall immuno-suppressant effect both locally, in the reproductive tract, as well as systemically. Round cells were positively correlated to blood plasma cortisol levels and trait anxiety levels. Throughout the study it was observed that average path velocity (VAP) and straight-line index (STR) kinematic parameters decreased as state anxiety scores, trait anxiety scores and blood plasma cortisol levels increased. An inverse relationship between total motility and trait anxiety was observed. The inverse relationship observed between elevated blood plasma cortisol and decreased spermatozoa viability and spermatozoa motility parameters is possibly a function of the increased number of round cells observed during this study. These findings suggest a possible role for increased anxiety or psychological stress to elucidate idiopathic infertility by means of affecting the cytokine profile. The increase in number of round cells in this study could therefore be a result of increased release of immature germ cells from a compromised blood-testis barrier. The changes in the cytokine profile, round cells in the semen and sperm motility often correspond to values observed in men presenting with idiopathic infertility. It can be concluded from this study that an increase in anxiety levels were found to have a negative relationship with male reproductive parameters.