Impact of a 12-week Yoga Intervention on Seminal Oxidative Stress, Sperm Quality, and DNA Fragmentation Index in Infertile Men: A Pre-post Intervention Study.

Abstract

Background and aim: Oxidative stress (OS) and oxidative DNA damage are significant contributors to male infertility, negatively affecting sperm function and genomic integrity by modulating the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). Elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels lead to the accumulation of harmful DNA adducts such as 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), which can impair fertility and increase cancer risk. Our study intended to investigate the effects of a 12-week yoga intervention on seminal ROS levels, OS marker, sperm quality, and sperm DFI in primary infertile men.

Materials and methods: Out of a total of 78 primary infertile men who met the specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, 42 participants successfully completed the 12-week yoga intervention. Semen analyses were conducted at pre- and postintervention, as per World Health Organization-21 guidelines (sixth edition), ROS levels were measured by the luminol assay, and 8-OHdG levels were evaluated using ELISA. The sperm DFI was assessed by the Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay.

Results: The 12-week yoga intervention resulted in significant improvements in total sperm count (from 34 to 129 million sperm/ejaculate) and progressive motility (from 15% to 35%). Seminal ROS levels significantly decreased from 45.3 to 16.5 relative light units (RLU)/s/million sperm (P < 0.001), and 8-OHdG levels decreased from 86.47 to 48.2 ng/ml (P < 0.001). A decreasing trend (P = 0.068) in DFI was observed at postyoga intervention.

Conclusion: Our study revealed that regular yoga practice significantly improves sperm function and reduces OS and DNA damage in infertile men. These findings support yoga as a beneficial adjunct therapy for the management of unexplained male infertility and can potentially enhance fertility outcomes.