ABSTRACT
Decreased sperm count, low sperm motility and sperm malformation are important factors of male infertility, but their pathogenic mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Autophagy is an evolutionarily highly conservative cellular process and plays an important role in spermatogenic cells in both normal physiological and adverse conditions. On the one hand, autophagy can degrade the majority of long-lived proteins and organelles to maintain the intracellular homeostasis of spermatogenic cells, the meiosis of spermatocytes and spermiogenesis, and improve sperm motility. On the other hand, excessive autophagy can lead to excessive consumption of proteins and damage to organelles, induce cellular dysfunction, and result in sperm count reduction, spermatogenic defects, and low sperm motility. This review presents an overview of the recent studies on the influences of autophagy on spermatogenesis and sperm motility, aiming for some new therapeutic targets for male infertility.