Received April 10, 2025
Accepted February 20, 2026

Objective: Stress has been implicated in the onset and development of various diseases and conditions including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, obesity and infertility. The effects of stress on fertility were studied to elucidate possible mechanisms of stress - induced infertility. Methods: Stress induction was done using the flowerpot technique. Plasma concentration of fertility hormones, inflammatory and oxidative markers, sperm profile, histological studies and molecular studies were investigated in selected tissues of test and control groups. Statistical analysis was done using GraphPad Prism 5.0 version. Results were presented as Mean±SEM. Student t-test was used to compare the means obtained and p-values of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: Plasma concentration of testosterone, percentage of progressively motile sperm cells, percentage of normal sperm cells and relative expression of Rhox-5 gene were significantly decreased, while concentration of C-reactive protein was significantly increased in the stressed group compared with the control. Conclusion: Stress reduces fertility through suppressed fertility hormone secretion and reduced genetic expression of the relevant genes leading to poor quality of spermatogenesis in male wistar rats.