Semen quality and age-dependent changes among male participants with normal sperm count in Qom, Iran

Background: One of the most conventional causes of male infertility is increasing age, which has significant effects on sperm physiology. In advanced ages, degenerative alterations in germinal epithelium, decreased number of Leydig cells, and their functions affect spermatogenesis through a decrease in testosterone level. So it is important to know whether advanced paternal age is associated with decreased semen quality. Methods: Semen samples of 144 men were collected and semen parameters (volume, concentration, and normal morphology) were evaluated after semen liquefaction at room temperature. Statistical analyzes of data was done using SPSS software. Results: we showed that increased total sperm count was correlated with increasing age (P≤0. 05). Analyzing the percentage of normal morphology showed a significant difference between group I and III (p≤0. 05) while there was no significant difference in comparison of other groups. In terms of the semen volume, no significant difference was shown. Conclusion: We showed that with increasing age sperm concentration significantly increases. It may be possible that spermatogenesis could be abnormally accelerated because of an impaired responsiveness of the testes to endocrinological influences. Moreover, we obtained results in terms of normal morphology percentage pursuant to previous studies, while in older group this parameter was lower than the youngest group significantly. The present study predicted that aging negatively affect the morphology of sperms.