P-2: Evaluation of Epididymal Sperm Quality, DNA Damage and Sperm Maturation Abnormality in Streptozotocin- induced Diabetic Mice

Background: Diabetes mellitus, a condition of chronic hyperglycemia, represents one of the greatest concerns to modern global health. Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorders with numerous complications. It is well known that, elevation of blood glucose levels leads to structural and functional changes in various target tissues and organs. The objective of the present study was to verify if there is any relation between diabetes mellitus and male fertility. In this study fertility index, sperm quality, DNA damage and maturation were measured. Materials and Methods: Male mice were injected intraperitoneally with multiple low doses of STZ at 50mg/kg daily for 5 days to induce type 1 diabetes and diabetes was confirmed 5-7 days after the last injection of STZ by the determination of glycemia. Control sham received solution (buffer phosphate 0.1 M) of the drug as same dose and direction (each groups 15 mice). All mice in different groups were sacrificed by cervical dislocation 45 days after injection starting and cauda epididymis were removed surgically and placed in 1 ml HTF + BSA 4mg/ml medium (preequilibrated) and incubated for 30 minutes in Co2 incubator (5% Co2, 37°C) to allow the spermatozoa to swim out. The spermatozoal suspension was analyzed for sperm motility, concentration in the cauda epididymis, viability and sperm chromatin quality and DNA integrity were assessed by Aniline blue and Acridine Orange staining following sperm sample(p<0.05). Results: The results showed that Sperm concentration in cauda epididymis, motility and viability were significantly lower in diabetics as compared to the control.considering sperm DNA maturation has shown that the rate of DNA damage were increased in compare with control sham and control groups(p<0.05). Conclusion: Reproductive dysfunction is one of the common secondary effects of diabetes , which is associated with sexual impotence, low sperm quality caused by impairment in testicular function. Present results highly support the idea that diabetes induced testicular injury with adverse effect on sperm production, sperm DNA integration and nuclear maturation.