Effects of adverse semen parameters on total oxidation status and DNA/chromatin integrity

Abstract Background Infertility is a major health problem that affects 7% of the men’s population. Oxidative stress (OS) plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of male infertility. The purpose of this study comparatively evaluated the total anti-oxidation status and DNA/chromatin integrity in semen samples among different infertile men’s groups compared with the normozoospermic men. Methods This cross-sectional study contains four experimental groups, including teratozoospermia (Exp I), asthenoteratozoospermia (Exp II), oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (Exp III), and azoospermia (Exp IV), as well as the control group of normozoospermic men. The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total oxidant status (TOS) were assessed by applying the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The chromatin/DNA damage was assessed in semen samples of all study groups by applying chromomycin A3 (CMA3) and toluidine blue (TB) staining methods. Results The results showed significantly higher proportions of TB+ and CMA3 positive sperm in all experimental groups compared to controls ( P < 0.001). TAC, TOS, and the ratio of TAC to TOS were significantly different in all experimental groups compared to the normozoospermic men ( P < 0.001). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that at least one sperm parameter abnormality, such as teratozoospermia could cause serious defects at the levels of DNA/chromatin as well as the antioxidants to oxidant balance of human spermatozoa in subfertile men with abnormal spermogram. Infertile men with sperm morphological abnormalities may benefit from simultaneous assessment of sperm DNA defects and OS.