The impact of sperm DNA damage in assisted conception and beyond: recent advances in diagnosis and treatment

Abstract

Lewis, S.E.M. et al. (2013). The impact of sperm DNA damage in assisted conception and beyond: recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. Astract:Sperm DNA damage is a useful biomarker for male infertility diagnosis and prediction of assisted reproduction outcomes. It is associated with reduced fertilization rates, embryo quality and pregnancy rates, and higher rates of spontaneous miscarriage and childhood diseases. This review provides a synopsis of the most recent studies from each of the authors, all of whom have major track records in the field of sperm DNA damage in the clinical setting. It explores current laboratory tests and the accumulating body of knowledge concerning the relationship between sperm DNA damage and clinical outcomes. The paper proceeds to discuss the strengths, weaknesses and clinical applicability of current sperm DNA tests. Next, the biological significance of DNA damage in the male germ line is considered. Finally, as sperm DNA damage is often the result of oxidative stress in the male reproductive tract, the potential contribution of antioxidant therapy in the clinical management of this condition is discussed. DNA damage in human spermatozoa is an important attribute of semen quality. It should be part of the clinical work up and properly controlled trials addressing the effectiveness of antioxidant therapy should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. IntroductionMale factor infertility is implicated in more than 40% of couples presenting for assisted reproduction treatment. Conventional semen analysis continues to be the only routine test to diagnose this condition even though it is known that such descriptive assessments cannot discriminate between the spermatozoa of fertile and infertile men (Guzick et al., 2001). The shifting values for normality (all 'normal' values now lower) in the fifth edition of the WHO manual (World Health Organization, 2010) compared with the previous WHO editions may result in even less men being classified as infertile (Murray et al., 2012).

Paternal contribution to development: Sperm genetic damage and repair in fish

“…The method detects free 3'-OH ends in DNA strands, binding to them FITC-labeled nucleotides catalyzed by deoxynucleotidyl transferase. Subsequently, sperm cells are analyzed either by microscopy or flow cytometry (Lewis et al 2013;Loo 2011). This is a rather expensive procedure mainly used for the analysis of human sperm (Aitken and De Iuliis 2007;Evenson et al 2007), but it has also been employed successfully for seabream and seabass spermatozoa ) and for tuna germ cells analysis (Corriero et al 2009).…”

“…This technique has been applied to fish species such as tench sperm (López-Fernández et al 2009) and is also used for clinical purposes. However, critical reports stated that low correlation exist between halo measurements and artificial reproductive technologies (ART) outcomes (Lewis et al 2013). …”

“…This method was applied for the evaluation of seabream and rainbow trout sperm integrity (González-Rojo et al 2014;Cartón-García et al 2013) and to assess damage in germinal cells of zebrafish Considering all the methodologies available to assess the sperm DNA damage, each one provides partial and specific information. In fact, criticisms have been made about the results from these tests because they are not equivalent (Lewis et al 2013). …”

Estrés oxidativo: ¿un estado celular defectuoso para la función espermática?

“…Diferentes autores proponen la importancia de la compactación del ADN en la protección de la información genética masculina frente a diferentes factores tanto internos como externos (33,(49)(50)(51)(52)(53).…”

“…Daños en el ADN espermático son una sólida señal de baja calidad seminal (33,(48)(49)(50)(51), no obstante, el desarrollo de tecnologías en la reproducción asistida, han permitido el desarrollo de embriones in vitro, a partir de espermatozoides que habrían sido rechazados in vivo, lo cual puede tener serías implicaciones a largo plazo en la salud y el bienestar de los niños concebidos mediante técnicas de reproducción asistida, siendo un objetivo claro, la selección de gametos con las mejores características.…”