Effect of varicocele on sperm function and semen oxidative stress

• Autor(a) principal: Blumer, Camile Garcia [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Restelli, Adriana Ester [UNIFESP], Del Giudice, Paula Toni [UNIFESP], Soler, Thiesa Butterby [UNIFESP], Fraietta, Renato [UNIFESP], Nichi, Marcilio, Bertolla, Ricardo Pimenta [UNIFESP], Cedenho, Agnaldo Pereira [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10240.x; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/34354
• topic: varicocele; spermatozoa; oxidative stress; acrosome; DNA damage; mitochondria; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo assess the effect of varicocele on sperm DNA integrity, mitochondrial activity, lipid peroxidation and acrosome integrity.PATIENTS and METHODSIn all, 30 patients with a clinically diagnosed varicocele of grade II or III and 32 men without a varicocele were evaluated for sperm DNA fragmentation (comet assay), mitochondrial activity (3,3'-diaminobenzidine assay), lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde) and acrosome integrity (fluorescent probe labelled peanut agglutinin).RESULTSThe varicocele group showed fewer spermatozoa with intact DNA (grade II, P = 0.040), more cells with inactive mitochondria (class III, P = 0.001), fewer cells with active mitochondria (class I, P = 0.005) and fewer spermatozoa with intact acrosomes (P < 0.001). Finally, no significant differences were observed in lipid peroxidation levels.CONCLUSIONMen with varicocele showed an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation and a reduction in mitochondrial activity and acrosome integrity. However, lipid peroxidation levels remained unchanged.