Interrelationships between apoptosis and fertility in sperm

Background: The quality of paternal DNA transmitted through sperm is an important factor for maintaining the reproductive potential of males, fertilization, embryonic development, and beyond. Apoptosis or programmed cell death is a major factor proposed to cause DNA damage in spermatozoa before and after spermatogenesis. Signals for the extrinsic pathway are activated by receptors from the tumor necrosis factor family (TNF s), and signals for the intrinsic pathway are triggered by factors such as oxidative stress and nuclear or mitochondrial DNA damage.Methods: DNA damage, phosphatidylserine (PS) translocation, and expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins (BAX and BCL-2) in the sperm were determined using TUNEL, Annexin V, and immunoblotting approaches, respectively. Amounts of apoptotic spermatozoa were 2.86 (± 1.12) and 3.00 (± 0.89) in high and low fertility , respectively (P=0.621), and were not correlated with fertility.Result: There was a negative correlation between early necrotic spermatozoa and viable spermatozoa (r = –0.99, P Conclusion: This difference was not statistically significant due to the variations of samples (1–3 vs. 4–5) in low fertile group (P

کلیدواژه ها:

Apoptosis ، DNA damage ، Male infertility ، Sperm