Not just weight loss. New generation anti-obesity drugs, the so-called GLP-1 receptor agonists, could also have a direct role on male fertility, stimulating sperm motility and the processes that make them more “ready” for fertilization. This is the path opened by experimental research conducted by the University of Padua, presented during the 40th Conference on Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine.
The starting point is known: GLP-1 agonists are already used in the treatment of obesity and diabetes and can promote significant weight loss. But the Paduan team observed something more: an effect potentially independent of weight loss and therefore not just “metabolic”.
The study – conducted in collaboration with Alberto Ferlin (Department of Medicine, University of Padua) and Andrea Di Nisio (Pegaso University) – documented the presence of GLP-1 in the seminal fluid of healthy subjects and, above all, the presence of GLP-1 receptors on the sperm membrane. An indication that suggests a physiological role of the hormone also at a reproductive level.
In the experimental phase, the stimulation of these receptors through a GLP-1 agonist drug induced “a clear increase in sperm motility” and a structural modification of the membrane, activating molecular mechanisms that overlap with those of capacitation and the acrosome reaction, crucial steps that prepare the spermatozoon to reach and fertilize the oocyte.
The focus was also on a specific anti-obesity molecule, tirzepatide: “It positively influences the fertility of the obese subject, not only indirectly through weight loss, but also by directly stimulating the maturation phases that make the sperm capable of fertilization”, explains Di Nisio. And he adds a key passage: the results “suggest a possible treatment of male infertility with tirzepatide even in clinical conditions not related to obesity or diabetes”, but “further clinical studies” are needed to verify the hypothesis.