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. 2020 Sep 1;9(9):262.
doi: 10.3390/biology9090262.

Relationship of Seminal Oxidation-Reduction Potential with Sperm DNA Integrity and pH in Idiopathic Infertile Patients

Sergio Garcia-Segura  1 , Jordi Ribas-Maynou  1 , Sandra Lara-Cerrillo  2 , Agustín Garcia-Peiró  2 , Ana Belén Castel  3 , Jordi Benet  1 , Maria Oliver-Bonet  1   4
Affiliations

Relationship of Seminal Oxidation-Reduction Potential with Sperm DNA Integrity and pH in Idiopathic Infertile Patients

Sergio Garcia-Segura et al. Biology (Basel). .

Abstract

Seminal oxidative stress (OS) is one of the most promising factors to describe the causes of idiopathic male infertility. Redox balance is essential in several biological processes related to fertility, so alterations such as high reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels or low antioxidant agent levels can compromise it. MiOXSYS has been developed to evaluate the seminal static oxidation-reduction potential (sORP) and it has been proposed as an effective diagnostic biomarker. However, its relationship with parameters like sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF), chromatin compaction status or seminal pH requires further analysis, making it the object of this study. Semen and sORP analysis were performed for all samples. A terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay (TUNEL) and Comet assay were used to assess SDF and chromomycin a3 (CMA3) test to assess sperm chromatin compaction. Regarding sORP measures, it was found that alkaline pH has an effect on sample reproducibility. To our knowledge, this unexpected effect has not been previously described. A statistical analysis showed that sORP correlated negatively with CMA3 positive cells and sperm motility, but not with SDF. As redox dysregulation, which occurs mainly at the testicular and epididymal level, causes chromatin compaction problems and leaves DNA exposed to damage, an excess of ROS could be counterbalanced further by a seminal supply of antioxidant molecules, explaining the negative correlation with CMA3 positive cells but no correlation with SDF. Our results show that the study of idiopathic infertility would benefit from a combined approach comprising OS analysis, SDF and chromatin compaction analysis.

Keywords: DNA compaction; DNA damage; chromomycin A3; comet assay; male infertility; oxidation-reduction potential; oxidative stress; pH; sperm; sperm DNA fragmentation.

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Conflict of interest statement

A.G.-P. has commercial interests with the comet test. Other authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sperm cells slide stained with Chromomycin A3 and counterstained with DAPI SlowFade Gold antifade. Cells with chromatin condensation deficiency are showed in yellow and normal cells in blue.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of differences between sORP1 and sORP2 (absolute values) in idiopathic patients regarding seminal pH values of each sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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