Quercetin and Male Fertility: A Literature Review

Infertility causes social and psychological distress and has negative economic effects on healthcare systems. Infertility is the incapability to conceive after at least 12 months of unprotected regular sexual intercourse. Finding the impacts of herbal antioxidants can result in new visions for enhancing male fertility. Quercetin belongs to the bioflavonoids family, and many nutritionists, scientists, and researchers have investigated its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties in their studies.

In this review, the authors summarized the protecting role of quercetin against oxidative damage and toxic metals stimulating male infertility by searching in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase via the keywords “male infertility”, “quercetin”, “male fertility”, “oxidative stress”, “toxic metals”, “environmental contaminants”, and “heavy metals” without language or date restrictions.

Due to insufficient antioxidant defenses and inadequate cell repair systems, spermatozoa are predominantly susceptible to oxidative stress and toxic agents, especially heavy metals. Reactive oxygen species mediate several other cellular mechanisms, such as apoptosis. Previous research has highlighted quercetin and polyphenols’ positive and negative impact on male fertility.

Quercetin exerts its beneficial functions through its antioxidant capacity by scavenging ROS and chelating toxic heavy metals and other environmental contaminants; thus, it can prevent male infertility.