Aging, testosterone and male fertility therapy: a review

Abstract

Men’s fertility declines as they age. Reduced reproductive function lowers testosterone levels, which leads to poor sperm quality and low fertility. This article summarizes the decline in male fertility and reproductive functions with age and highlights the relationship between aging and testosterone. It also examines various testosterone-based health treatments that can improve male fertility. A systematic search was conducted in five databases, including PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, Web of Science and EMBASE. The search terms included “male aging”, “male fertility”, “male fertility treatment”, “testosterone” and “fertility treatment”. We systematically reviewed primary English-language studies, including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources, while excluding samples, reviews, internet articles, editorials, protocols, perspectives, commentaries, publications, reports and non-primary data. We also manually searched reference lists. It was observed that testosterone impacts male virility, physical and mental health, and the aging process. Novel therapeutic approaches, such as the use of natural product-derived pharmacologic therapies are required to maintain healthy gonadal function, or enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and sperm quality while considering gene and DNA repair.

Keywords

• male aging
• male fertility
• testosterone
• male reproduction