We have previously shown an inverse correlation between testicular melatonin concentration and inflammation/oxidative stress-related markers levels in infertile men showing unexplained azoospermia. Here, we evaluated the impact of melatonin oral supplementation (daily 3 mg dose used to treat sleep disorders) in the incidence of local inflammation, oxidative stress, and tubular wall fibrosis development in young and middle-aged infertile adult men. Compared with testes without histological alterations, gonads with morphological abnormalities showed lower melatonin concentration along with increased macrophage numbers, TBARS generation, and expression levels of inflammation-related markers and antioxidant enzymes, as well as tubular wall collagen fibers disorganization and thickening. Melatonin oral supplementation not only increased its own testicular levels but also decreased inflammation- and oxidative stress-related markers levels, and improved the tubular wall aspect.

Overall, our work provides insights into the potential benefits of melatonin on the inflammatory and oxidative status in testes of patients suffering from unexplained infertility.

先前我们已经显示出不明无精子症的不育男性睾丸褪黑激素浓度与炎症/氧化应激相关标志物水平呈负相关。在这里，我们评估了褪黑激素口服补充剂（每天3 mg剂量用于治疗睡眠障碍）对年轻和中年不育成年男性局部炎症，氧化应激和肾小管壁纤维化发展的影响。与没有组织学改变的睾丸相比，具有形态异常的性腺表现出较低的褪黑激素浓度，巨噬细胞数量增加，TBARS产生，炎症相关标志物和抗氧化酶的表达水平以及肾小管壁胶原纤维的变质和增厚。

总体而言，我们的工作提供了有关褪黑素对患有无法解释的不育症患者睾丸炎症和氧化状态的潜在益处的见解。