www.IndianJournals.com Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale Downloaded From IP - 14.139.59.53 on dated 24-May-2013 Trends in Biosciences 6 (1): 14-18, 2013 ABSTRACT Zinc is currently the trace minerals of greatest concern when considering the nutritional value of vegetarian. It plays several important roles in a biological system and considered as the closest thing to a nutritional aphrodisiac. In the present review various aspects related with zinc and male fertility were discussed. Zinc plays a key role in spermatogenesis from several perspectives and located primarily in the Lyding cells. It takes part in formation of sperm motility, influences directly on sperm morphology and plays an important part in capacitation. Various biological factors, heavy or regular use of alcohol, smoking and endocrine abnormalities are the major factors associated with decrease level of seminal plasma zinc level. Its bioavailability is highly influenced by phytate content of food material that makes non-vegetarian diet more preferable then vegetarian diet. Many medicinal plants as well as their products are now being use and marketed for correcting the Zinc deficiency. In present review it was realized that synergistic studies involving Zinc and phytate concentration and their impacts on sperm dynamics need to taken up. Key words Zinc, Male infertility, Phytate, Medicinal Plants, Zn bioavailability Zinc is ubiquitously present throughout all biologic systems and has abundant and varied functions. It is the second most abundant trace element in the human body, totaling nearly 2 g. (Grahn, et al.,2001). Found in more than 300 enzymes and a cofactor for multiple biologic processes including DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis. Zn plays a key role in spermatogenesis from several perspectives (Croxford, et al.,2010). Located primarily in the Lyding cells, the late type B spermatogonia, and the spermatids and essential for the production and secretion of testosterone with follicale stimulating hormone of spermatogenesis (Ruwanpura, et al., 2010). As a result, Zn deficiency has been associated with reduced function of the luteinizing hormone receptor (Song, et al., 2010), reduce steroid synthesis (Prasad, 1985)), and Leyding cell damage (Hesketh, 1982) emanating from oxidative stress (Oteiza, et al., 1996). Zn is quite high in the developing spermatocytes due to the need for Zn during DNA condensation and Meosis (Kundu and Rao, 1996). Zinc and Male Fertility It has been reported that male pattern contributes in 40% of the cases of infertility (Wroblewska, et al., 2011), and MINI REVIEW Knowledge and Gaps for Herbal Zinc in Relation to Their Role in Regulation of Male Fertility : A Review MANISH MATHUR 18E-564, C.H.B., Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 342 003 email: ravi_mm2099@yahoo.com Dr. Manish Mathur has done M.Sc. in Botany and Ph.D. in Plant Ecology from Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. He has also done M.Sc. in Ecology and Environment from Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment, New Delhi. He did his doctoral work on validation of some aphrodisiac plant. He has 21 papers to his credit and got trained in Remote Sensing, Intellectual property rights, Agricultural statistics and Nanotechnology. globally the incidence of male fertility is about 13-18% (Mathur, 2012). There has been a rapid increase in reports of declining sperm counts and infertility. Such rapid increase cannot be attributed to genetic factor alone. Environmental exposure to chemical, physical agents such as heat, lifestyle factors such as smoking and chewing tobacco, nutritional status and air Fig. 1. (Adopted from Sorensen, et al., 1999). Electron micrograph of human sperm cells autometallographically developed for zinc ions (A) Zinc grain are associated to the acrosome (ac). The segmented column (s), the mitochondria (m) and outer dense fibers (odf). (B) Cross-section of sperm tail Zinc grains are found at the outer dense fibers (odf) and the plasma membrane (pm).