Assessment of Sperm DNA Fragmentation in Patients with Partial

Document Type : Original Article (s)

Authors

1 MSc Student, Department of Biology, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Andrology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, The Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Andrology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, The Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Infertility is estimated to affect up to 15% of couples of reproductive age. Globozoospermia is a rare (incidence < 0.1%) but severe disorder in male infertility. It is characterized by the absence of acrosome in round-headed spermatozoa. Cases with partial globozoospermic are a group of patients whose semen samples show only a fraction with this typical head shape. It is possible that round-headed sperm may have an abnormal chromatin structure and/or DNA strand breaks. Moreover, sperm DNA fragmentation is shown to be associated with teratozoospermia. This study aimed to assess the sperm DNA fragmentation in the patients with partial globozoospermia.Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 77 subjects including 33 infertile men with round-headed sperm (above 20%) and 44 normozospermic men as control was recruited over a 30-month period. Semen examination was based on World Health Organization guidelines. Sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay were done for evaluation of the chromatin structure.Findings: The analysis of sperm DNA fragmentation showed statistical differences between patients with partial globozoospermia and control group. Patients with partial globozoospermia had a higher mean level of DNA fragmentation than the men with normal spermogram in SCSA (26.57 ± 16.69 vs. 14.57 ± 9.24) and TUNEL (24.81 ± 18.68 vs. 11.50 ± 4.22) methods, respectively. The results of TUNEL and SCSA showed a strong relationship (r = 0.484; P < 0.001) in both groups. Conclusion: Some specific morphological abnormalities were shown to be predictive of chromatin alteration. The present study demonstrated that men with round-head sperm have elevated risk for DNA fragmentation in their sperm compared to control group. There are just some case reports about DNA fragmentation rate in men with globozoosprmia and further confirmation in a larger scale study is needed.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Isfahan Medical School
Volume 32, Issue 313 - Serial Number 313
November and December 2015
Pages 2124-2133

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 November 2014
  • Revise Date: 30 May 2024
  • Accept Date: 06 April 2022

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