Male Infertility: A Review of Etiology, Current Treatment Strategies, and the Emerging Potential of Bee Venom as an Integrative Approach in Apitherapy

Quality of human sperms has been declined over the prior little decades leading to infertility. Data analysis from the recent studies indicated that man fertility is influenced with many reasons and factors. Genetic, hormonal disturbance, lifestyle and environmental issues, anatomical obstruction, infections, and idiopathic factors are the most common causes preceding to infertility. Treatment strategies of this illness included modulation of lifestyle and behavioral related habits. Pharmacological treatments play a crucial role in enhancing spermatogenesis and testicular function. Hormonal therapy, estrogen receptor modulators, aromatase inhibitors, and dopamine agonists are used to initiate the cascade promotes spermatogenesis. Antioxidant therapy like glutathione, vitamin C, ubiquinone (CoQ10), and L-carnitine has shed light as an efficient treatment approach which can reduce oxidative stress leading to sperm quality enhancement. Despite improvements in advanced medication, pharmaceuticals originating from animal or plant sources continue to contribute significantly to treating the disease. Apitherapy is a member of replacement medicine by using products specifically, pollen, honey, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom (BV) collected, processed, and released by bees for disease management. It has been informed that BV has more than 40 pharmaceutically active components which are mostly peptides and enzymes. Because of the anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and antioxidant characteristics of BV along with its bioactive compounds, BV is mainly utilized in the treatment of various disorders. BV can improve several reproductive traits, including increasing the concentration of sperm bundles within the lumen of seminiferous tubule, along with preserving and supporting certain sexual effectiveness parameters.