Is there any relationship between human sperm parameters and protamine deficiency in different groups of infertile men?

Fatemeh Dehghanpour; Farzaneh Fesahat; Fatemeh Yazdinejad; Leila Motamedzadeh; Ali Reza Talebi

doi:10.1016/j.androl.2019.04.003

Is there any relationship between human sperm parameters and protamine deficiency in different groups of infertile men?

Rev Int Androl. 2020 Oct-Dec;18(4):137-143. doi: 10.1016/j.androl.2019.04.003. Epub 2019 Jul 18.

Authors

Fatemeh Dehghanpour¹, Farzaneh Fesahat², Fatemeh Yazdinejad³, Leila Motamedzadeh¹, Ali Reza Talebi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Andrology Department, Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
² Reproductive Immunology Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
³ Andrology Department, Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran; Abortion Research Center, Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
⁴ Andrology Department, Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran; Abortion Research Center, Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. Electronic address: prof_talebi@hotmail.com.

PMID: 31326281
DOI: 10.1016/j.androl.2019.04.003

Abstract

Objective: Abnormality in Histone-Protamine replacements has been indicated to cause sperm DNA damage and infertility. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between sperm parameters in oligospermia, asthenospermia, and teratospermia with protamine deficiency in infertile men.

Material and method: In this case-control study, we had three experimental groups including oligospermia (n=100), asthenospermia (n=100), and teratospermia (n=100) as well as normospermia (n=100) as controls. Sperm analyses were performed according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2010) and sperm chromatin quality was assessed using Chromomycin A3 (CMA3) staining for each sample.

Results: The comparison of the data between groups indicated that the percentage of spermatozoa with protamine deficiency was significantly different in patients with oligospermia, asthenospermia, and teratospermia when compared with control ones. However, there was no significant correlation between sperm nuclear protamine deficiency and their parameters of the men with teratospermia using CMA3 test. Regarding the oligospermia and asthenospermia semen samples, the findings showed the negative correlations between the sperm nuclear protamine deficiency and progressive motility as well as immobility (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The higher proportion of spermatozoa with abnormal chromatin packaging was observed in asthenospermic samples than those from other experimental groups as well as controls. It seems that normal morphology cannot have a valuable predictive value for good chromatin quality of spermatozoa, as much as normal motility characteristics, since samples with high mobility rates often have lower protamine deficiencies. The findings may provide a supportable promoting the future wider clinical application of chromatin/DNA integrity testing along with the semen analysis in male infertility.

Keywords: Astenospermia; Asthenospermia; Deficiencia de protamina; Esperma; Oligospermia; Protamine deficiency; Sperm; Teratozoospermia.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Asthenozoospermia / genetics
Asthenozoospermia / physiopathology*
Case-Control Studies
Chromomycin A3 / analysis
DNA / genetics
DNA Damage / genetics
Humans
Male
Oligospermia / genetics
Oligospermia / physiopathology*
Prospective Studies
Protamines / metabolism*
Semen / physiology
Semen Analysis
Sperm Motility / physiology
Spermatozoa / metabolism
Spermatozoa / pathology
Teratozoospermia / genetics
Teratozoospermia / physiopathology*

Substances

Protamines
DNA
Chromomycin A3