Role of Vitamin K2 in Regulating Apoptotic Pathways and Sperm Chromatin Integrity

Oxidative stress-induced apoptosis and chromatin instability are usually associated with male infertility and undermine the sperm DNA integrity. Recently, Vitamin K₂ (menaquinone) became a bioactive compound whose regulation action can be found in both apoptosis and transcriptional signaling. This study examines how Vitamin K₂ can be protective in the regulation of apoptotic pathways and stability in sperm chromatin by an integrative experimental and in silico analysis. Vitamin K₂ levels, DNA fragmentation level of infertile men's serum and semen samples (Aniline Blue), and the expression levels of apoptosis-associated genes (BAX, BCL-2, and CASP-3) in the samples were examined by qRT-PCR. The characterization of Vitamin K₂ binding affinity to apoptotic proteins was done using dynamics simulations. Findings showed that high levels of Vitamin K₂ had a significant positive correlation with reduced levels of DNA fragmentation and good control of apoptotic genes with reduced BAX and CASP-3 and increased expression of BCL-2. In general, the results indicate Vitamin K₂ as a potential regulator of sperm death and chromatin integrity that provides new therapeutic understanding on how male infertile patients can be treated.