Laboratory for Molecular Reproduction and Genetics, Department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Center for Reproductive Medicine, Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA; Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Infertility affects about 15-20% couples attempting pregnancy and in about half cases the problem lies in the male. Among the sperm parameters, linear progressive motility is one of the most important predictors of fertility potential. Though genetic and chromosomal abnormalities are important aetiological factors in the pathogenesis of male infertility, the mechanism involved in impaired sperm motility is poorly understood. Here we report mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations with increased seminal reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and higher DNA fragmentation level in the sperm resulting in decreased ATP production which plays an important role in sperm motility defect. Thus it is important to understand the aetiology of asthenozoospermia and to distinguish if infertile men harbour nuclear or mtDNA mutation as they are very important prognostic markers. This case study also highlights that routine semen parameters are very modest predictors of fertility outcome but ROS estimation and DNA integrity analysis by Comet assay have better diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. Thus this study is a detailed and comprehensive workup of an infertile asthenozoospermic male.
Written by:
Dada R, Mahfouz RZ, Kumar R, Venkatesh S, Shamsi MB, Agarwal A, Talwar P, Sharma RK. Are you the author?
Reference: Andrologia. 2011 Jul 18. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0272.2010.01045.x
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21762187
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