Dapagliflozin shows promising effects for diabetes and impaired fertility in males

      Findings from a recent study published in ‘Asian Journal of Andrology’ reveal that dapagliflozin may be a promising treatment for males with both diabetes and impaired fertility. The study was conducted in male BKS.Cg-Dock7 m +/+Lepr db /Nju mice (db/db, 8 weeks old; Nanjing Biomedical Research Institution of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China). The diabetic condition of the mice (after 1 week of adaptation) was verified if the fasting blood glucose was ≥ 198 mg/dL or random blood glucose was ≥300.6 mg/dL.

      According to the researchers, dapagliflozin significantly decreased the blood glucose levels compared with the db/db mice, especially the fasting blood glucose level. It also alleviates the destruction of seminiferous tubules in db/db mice, restores decreases in sperm concentration and motility and improves spermatogenic function in the testicular tissue of db/db mice mainly by regulating the expression of antiapoptotic proteins, and the protective effects were partly dependent on GLP-1R.

      The researchers concluded that treatment with dapagliflozin alleviates impaired spermatogenesis, improves sperm quality, and ameliorates apoptosis and the overall oxidative stress status in the testicular tissue of mice with diabetes. These effects could probably occur via the activation of the GLP-1R/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

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