Comparative Study of the Restoring Effect of Metformin, Gonadotropin, and Allosteric Agonist of Luteinizing Hormone Receptor on Spermatogenesis in Male Rats with Streptozotocin-Induced Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

We compared the effectiveness of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG; 5 days, 20 IU/rat/day), allosteric luteinizing hormone receptor agonist TP04 (5 days, 20 mg/kg/day), and metformin (28 days, 120 mg/kg/day) in restoring spermatogenesis in male rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus. hCG and TP04 increased the levels of testosterone and expression of the steroidogenic protein StAR, the number of spermatogenic cells, thickness of the seminal epithelium, and the number and motility of mature sperm that were reduced in diabetic rats, though they did not reduce the number of defective spermatozoa. Metformin had a weak effect on steroidogenesis, but was not inferior to luteinizing hormone receptor agonist by its restorative effect on spermatogenesis and also reduced the number of defective forms of spermatozoa. Thus, the spermatogenesis-restoring effect of metformin and luteinizing hormone receptor agonist in type 2 diabetes mellitus are comparable, despite different mechanisms of action.