How does sperm apoptosis affect the outcome of intrauterine insemination and intracytoplasmic sperm injection?

Abstract

Up to 20% of male infertility is caused by abnormal DNA organization of the sperm and anomalies of the sperm apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the sperm DNA apoptosis and viability in patients undergoing intrauterine insemination (IUI) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In the second part of the analysis, sperm DNA apoptosis and viability were investigated in patients with oligozoospermia and normospermia respectively. A total of 45 IUI and 38 ICSI patients were included in this study. Annexin V analysis was performed to investigate the sperm viability, and TUNEL assay was used to evaluate the sperm DNA apoptosis. Further investigations using 12 oligozoospermia and 11 control samples for sperm viability and sperm DNA apoptosis at different incubation periods and temperatures were performed. The results of this study showed a negative correlation between the sperm DNA apoptosis in IUI patients, but no relationship was observed for the ICSI patients. The second part of this study showed that incubation of semen samples at 37°C for 3 h has detrimental effects on the sperm DNA integrity. In conclusion, the incubation of semen at high temperatures affects the sperm quality. The results of this study showed that these tests can be beneficial for the infertile couples to achieve pregnancy.