Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 15 pp 5399—5411
Age-related changes in human sperm DNA integrity
- 1 Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin 71-210, Poland
- 2 Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan 60-479, Poland
- 3 Department of Gynecology, Endocrinology and Gynecological Oncology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin 71-252, Poland
- 4 Department of Animal Reproduction, Biotechnology and Environmental Hygiene, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin 71-270, Poland
- 5 Department of Procreative Health, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Szczecin 71-210, Poland
- 6 VitroLive Fertility Clinic in Szczecin, Szczecin 70-483, Poland
Received: June 12, 2019 Accepted: July 20, 2019 Published: August 13, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102120How to Cite
Copyright © 2019 Rosiak-Gill et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 3.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Abnormal standard semen characteristics and reduced sperm chromatin maturity can appear with increasing male age. However, the influence of paternal age on semen parameters is still controversial. Therefore, this study was designed to estimate the influence of paternal age not only on conventional semen characteristics but also on sperm DNA integrity. This research was carried out on ejaculated sperm cells obtained from men (n = 1124) aged ≥40 y and <40 y. Our data revealed a decreased semen volume and an increased percentage of DFI (sperm DNA fragmentation index) in older men compared to younger men in the entire study cohort, in men with normozoospermia and in men with abnormal semen parameters. Moreover, there was a higher incidence of sperm DNA damage (>10% DFI, low fertility potential) in the groups of men aged ≥40 y than in the groups of men aged <40 y. Older men had over twice the odds ratio for high sperm DNA damage as younger men. Our findings suggest a detrimental effect of advanced paternal age on sperm chromatin integrity. The data show that the evaluation of sperm DNA has greater clinical utility than standard semen analysis in case of male fertility potential assessment.