Varicocele is one of the major causes of infertility in men. Although there are different theories related to the pathophysiology of the varicocele, the exact pathophysiologic mechanism remains unknown. Sperm DNA damage may be the cause of undiagnosed infertility problems. The standard semen examination may not be sufficient to determine the etiology of infertility. For this reason, extra tests...

Background: Micronutrients in support to the carbon cycle were shown to reduce sperm DNA damage both in animal models and infertile men. Besides supporting DNA methylation, their positive effect may be mediated by an improved performance of the endogenous antioxidant system but this has not yet been proven in clinical settings. The present study aimed at evaluating the effects of micronutrient ...

BACKGROUND The integrity of DNA in spermatozoa is considered an additional parameter of semen quality and a potential fertility predictor. Significant progress has been made in recent years towards the development of reliable tests for sperm chromatin integrity and DNA damage assessment. However, most of the techniques available are labor intensive, require expensive instrumentation or utilize ...

OBJECTIVE To report a more quantitative approach to study the influence of varying levels of sperm DNA damage on transgenerational changes in genomic instability in a mouse model. DESIGN Experimental prospective study. SETTING Embryology research laboratory. ANIMAL(S) Swiss albino mice. INTERVENTION(S) The sperm DNA damage was induced by different doses of gamma-irradiation to male mice...

BACKGROUND Cryopreservation of human semen for assisted reproduction is complicated by cryodamage to spermatozoa caused by excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. METHODS AND FINDINGS We used exogenous ROS (H(2)O(2)) to simulate cryopreservation and examined DNA damage repair in embryos fertilized with sperm with H(2)O(2)-induced DNA damage. Sperm samples were collected from epidi...

Sperm DNA damage is prevalent among infertile men and is known to influence natural reproduction. However, the impact of sperm DNA damage on assisted reproduction outcomes remains controversial. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies on sperm DNA damage (assessed by SCSA, TUNEL, SCD, or Comet assay) and clinical pregnancy after IVF and/or ICSI treatment from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PUBMED d...

BACKGROUND DNA adducts are widely used marker of DNA damage induced by environmental pollutants. The present study was designed to explore whether sperm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts were associated with sperm DNA integrity and semen quality. METHODS A total of 433 Han Chinese men were recruited from an infertility clinic. Immunofluorescence was applied to analyze sperm PAH-DNA ...

For long, spermatozoa were only considered as vectors carrying the paternal genetic material to the oocyte. However, over the recent years, the important contribution of the spermatozoa to embryogenesis has become better understood. It is now evident that sperm cells are highly differentiated, polarized and specialized, containing the paternal constituents required for fertilization and normal ...

The sperm cell is designed to transmit the male DNA to the oocyte. The integrity of this DNA is an obvious requisite for normal embryo development and a successful pregnancy. Nevertheless, DNA quality, mainly the presence of DNA fragmentation, is not habitually assessed as part of sperm analysis due to the technical complexity of such an assessment and misunderstanding about its significance. C...