Male Factors
Sperm chromatin damage impairs human fertility,

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(99)00462-8Get rights and content
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Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between sperm chromatin defects, evaluated by the flow cytometric (FCM) sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), and the probability of a pregnancy in a menstrual cycle (fecundability).

Design: Follow-up study.

Setting: The Section of Toxicology and Biomedical Sciences, ENEA Casaccia, Rome, Italy, and the Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.

Patient(s): Two hundred fifteen Danish first pregnancy planners with no previous knowledge of their fertility capability.

Intervention(s): None.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Semen samples were collected at enrollment to measure semen volume, sperm concentration, motility, and morphology (by microscopy), as well as chromatin susceptibility to in situ, acid-induced partial denaturation by the FCM SCSA. Time to pregnancy was evaluated during a 2-year follow-up period. Demographic, medical, reproductive, occupational, and lifestyle data were collected by questionnaire. Fecundability was correlated with SCSA-derived parameters.

Result(s): Fecundability declines as a function of the percentage of sperm with abnormal chromatin and becomes small when aberrant cells are >40%.

Conclusion(s): Optimal sperm chromatin packaging seems necessary for full expression of the male fertility potential. The SCSA emerged as a predictor of the probability to conceive in this population-based study.

Keywords

Human spermatozoa
chromatin structure
flow cytometry
fertility
time to pregnancy

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Supported by grants from the Aarhus University Research Foundation and from the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research (MURST).

The Danish First Pregnancy Planner Study is a collaborative follow-up study on environmental and biological determinants of fertility. The project is coordinated by the Steno Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University and is undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Growth and Reproduction, National University Hospital, Copenhagen. The team includes Jens Peter E. Bonde, Niels Henrik I. Hjøllund, Tina Kold Jensen, Tine Brink Henriksen, Henrik A. Kolstad, Erik Ernst, Aleksander Giwercman, Niels Erik Skakkebæk, and Jørn Olsen.