[Association of sperm DNA integrity with seminal plasma oxidative stress and its influence on in vitro fertilization in infertile males].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of sperm DNA integrity with semen routine parameters and seminal plasma oxidative stress and its influence on in vitro fertilization (IVF) in males with infertility. METHODS: Using sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD), we detected sperm DNA damage in 433 infertile men undergoing IVF. Based on the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), we divided the patients into a low DFI (lt;30%) and a high DFI ( ≥30%) group and then compared sperm concentration, the percentage of progressively motile sperm (PMS), the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the seminal plasma, and the rates of fertilization, cleavage and high-quality embryos between the two groups of patients. RESULTS: Compared with the low DFI group, the high DFI group showed significantly decreased rates of PMS (ï¼»48.6±16.7ï¼½ vs ï¼»29.2±16.8ï¼½%, P<0.01) and fast PMS ï¼»19.0±9.1ï¼½ vs ï¼»9.4±6.6ï¼½%, P<0.01), but no statistically significant difference in sperm concentration (ï¼»51.4±30.9ï¼½ vs ï¼»52.3±32.4ï¼½ ×106/ml, P>0.05). The content of MDA in the seminal plasma was markedly higher in the high DFI than in the low DFI group (ï¼»2.28±0.26ï¼½ vs ï¼»0.95±0.18ï¼½ nmol/L, P<0.01) but that of TAC remarkably lower in the former than in the latter (ï¼»10.2±3.5ï¼½ vs ï¼»33.2±7.9ï¼½ U/L, P<0.01). The rate of fertilization was significantly lower in the high DFI than in the low DFI group (ï¼»58.9±30.0ï¼½ vs ï¼»77.2±25.0ï¼½%, P<0.01), but there were no significant differences between the two groups in the rates of cleavage (ï¼»70.7±35.6ï¼½ vs ï¼»80.4±15.6ï¼½%P>0.05) and high-quality embryos (ï¼»40.4±31.3ï¼½ vs ï¼»41.7±29.4ï¼½%,P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Sperm DNA damage is associated with seminal oxidative stress and may affect the outcomes of IVF by reducing the rate of fertilization.