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. 2018 Feb;16(2):93-100.

Association between seminal plasma neopterin and oxidative stress in male infertility: A case-control study

Tayebeh Ghiasvand  1 , Mohammad Taghi Goodarzi  1 , Gholamreza Shafiee  2 , Alireza Zamani  1 , Jamshid Karimi  2 , Marzieh Ghorbani  3 , Iraj Amiri  3
Affiliations

Association between seminal plasma neopterin and oxidative stress in male infertility: A case-control study

Tayebeh Ghiasvand et al. Int J Reprod Biomed. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Neopterin is a significant and sensitive marker in estimating the activity of cellular immune system. Oxidative stress plays a role in the etiology of male infertility. Increased reactive oxygen species is accompanied with increase in neopterin level. Hence neopterin may be involved in male infertility.

Objective: The objective of this case-control study was to determine neopterin level in idiopathic infertile and normospermic men; furthermore, to identify its relationship with oxidative stress markers including total oxidant, malondialdehyde, sperm DNA fragmentation, and total antioxidant capacity of seminal plasma.

Materials and methods: Forty seven infertile and forty three normospermic males were selected according to WHO criteria. Their semen and blood samples were taken; subsequently, the levels of neopterin, total oxidant, total antioxidant, malondialdehyde, and sperm DNA fragmentation were measured.

Results: The levels of neopterin, total oxidant, and malondialdehyde in seminal plasma of infertile males were significantly higher than those of normospermic group (p=0.038, 0.018, and 0.028, respectively). Furthermore, sperm DNA fragmentation in infertile men was higher than that of control group (p<0.001). Moreover, total antioxidant capacity of seminal plasma in infertile males was significantly lower than that of normospermic subjects (p=0.002). No significant difference was observed in serum neopterin, total oxidant, and malondialdehyde between the infertile and normospermic groups.

Conclusion: The significant inverse correlation between seminal plasma neopterin and total antioxidant in the infertile males supports a possible role of neopterin in male infertility. Neopterin can be suggested as a marker in monitoring and diagnosis of idiopathic male infertility.

Keywords: DNA damage; Infertility; Neopterin; Oxygen radical absorbance capacity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Tunel test results presenting DNA fragmentation, A) infertile and B) normal sperm with DNA fragmentation and sperm with intact DNA are shown as green and red points respectively (magnification×400
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