OBJECTIVE: To evaluate sperm DNA fragmentation in normozoospermic male partners of couples undergoing infertility evaluation.
DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.
SETTING: Clinical andrology laboratory.
PATIENT(S): A total of 1,974 consecutive normozoospermic men selected from a larger cohort of 4,345 consecutive, nonazoospermic men presenting for infertility evaluation.
INTERVENTION(S): None.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Clinical parameters, conventional semen parameters, and sperm DNA fragmentation assessed by flow cytometry-based TUNEL assay and reported as percent sperm DNA fragmentation (%SDF).
RESULT(S): The mean (±SD) %SDF and the proportion of men with high %SDF (>30%) were significantly lower in the normozoospermic compared with the entire cohort of 4,345 evaluable infertile men (17.6% ± 10.1% vs. 20.7% ± 12.4% and 11% vs. 20%, respectively). In the group of 1,974 normozoospermic men, %SDF was positively correlated with paternal age (r = 0.17) and inversely correlated with progressive motility (r = -0.26). In the subset of normozoospermic men with sperm parameters above the 50th percentile (≥73 × 106 sperm/mL, ≥55% progressive motility, and ≥14% normal forms, World Health Organization 2010 guidelines), 5% (4 of 83) had elevated %SDF (>30%).
CONCLUSION(S): In this large cohort of normozoospermic men presenting for infertility evaluation, DNA fragmentation level is related to sperm motility and paternal age, and 11% of these men have high levels of sperm DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, the data indicate that a nonnegligible proportion (5%) of normozoospermic men with high-normal sperm parameters may also have significant sperm DNA fragmentation.
Written by:
Belloc S, Benkhalifa M, Cohen-Bacrie M, Dalleac A, Amar E, Zini A. Are you the author?
1Laboratoire d'Eylau-Unilabs, Paris, France; Cabinet d'Andrologie, Paris, France; Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Reference: Fertil Steril. 2014 Mar 29. pii: S0015-0282(14)00144-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2014.02.006
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24690240
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