Sperm DNA fragmentation is related to sperm morphological staining patterns

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Sa, R (Author) Other; Cunha, M (Author) Other; rocha, e (Author) ICBAS; barros, a (Author) FMUP; sousa, m (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Reproductive BioMedicine Online

Vol. 31

Pages: 506-515

ISSN: 1472-6483

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 18 Citations

Scopus - 19 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00G-Q76

DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2015.06.019

Abstract (EN): In this prospective comparative study, sperm DNA fragmentation (sDNAfrag) was compared at each step of a sequential semen preparation, with semen parameters according to their degree of severity. At each step (fractions) of the sequential procedure, sDNAfrag was determined: fresh (Raw), after gradient centrifugation, washing, and swim-up (SU) for 70 infertile men enrolled in intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. sDNAfrag significantly (P = 0.04; P < 0.0001) decreased throughout the steps of semen preparation, with centrifugation and washing not increasing it. A negative correlation to sperm motility was observed in Raw and SU fractions, and a higher sDNAfrag was observed in samples with lower semen quality. Our results confirm that the steps of the sequential procedure do not compromise sperm DNA integrity and progressively decreased sDNAfrag regardless of the sperm abnormality and that semen parameters with lower quality present higher sDNAfrag. Four distinct patterns were observed, of which the entire sperm head staining was the pattern most expressed in all studied fractions. Additionally, the sperm head gene-rich region staining pattern was reduced by the procedure. This suggests that pattern quantification might be a useful adjunct when performing sDNAfrag testing for male infertility.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10