Lower sperm DNA fragmentation after r-FSH administration in functional hypogonadotropic hypogonadism

Abstract

Purpose An observational clinical and molecular study was designed to evaluate the effects of the administration of recombinant human FSH on sperm DNA fragmentation in men with a non-classical form of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. Methods In the study were included 53 men with a nonclassical form of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. In all patients, sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP) in situ DNA nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay, was evaluated before starting the treatment with 150 IU of recombinant human FSH, given three times a week for at least 3 months. Patients' semen analysis and DNA fragmentation index were re-evaluated after the 3-month treatment period. Results After recombinant human FSH therapy, we did not find any differences in terms of sperm count, motility and morphology. The average DNA fragmentation index was significantly reduced (21.15 vs 15.2, p<0.05), but we found a significant reduction in patients with high basal DFI values (>15 %), while no significant variation occurred in the patients with DFI values ≤15 %. Conclusions Recombinant human FSH administration improves sperm DNA integrity in hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia men with DNA fragmentation index value >15 % .

Short‐term FSH treatment and sperm maturation: a prospective study in idiopathic infertile men

“…Previous human studies demonstrated a positive effect of FSH therapy on ultrastructural sperm characteristics and DNA condensation (Bartoov et al, 1994;Baccetti et al, 1997Baccetti et al, , 2004Kamischke et al, 1998;Ben-Rafael et al, 2000;Piomboni et al, 2009). Moreover, recent studies showed that FSH therapy improves sperm DNA integrity in men with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia by reducing DNA fragmentation index (Palomba et al, 2011;Colacurci et al, 2012;Ruvolo et al, 2013).…”

“…Accordingly, our aim was to evaluate the effect of FSH treatment not only after the entire cycle of spermatogenesis (3 months) but also to test whether spermiogenesis (the last 1 month of spermatogenesis) would be also affected positively by the drug. Moreover, recent studies showed that FSH therapy improves sperm DNA integrity in men with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia by reducing DNA fragmentation index (Palomba et al, 2011;Colacurci et al, 2012;Ruvolo et al, 2013). In vitro studies on human germ cells showed that FSH stimulates meiosis II and round spermatid flagellum extrusion, whereas Testosterone potentiates FSH action and stimulates late spermatid differentiation (Sousa et al, 2002).…”

Evaluation of morphological criteria of sperm quality before in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection

“…The labeling of DNA strand breaks (the terminal transferased UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay), Annexin V-propidium iodide assay and Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay are used for the detection and quantification of apoptosis in sperm (DNA fragmentation) (Erenpreisa et al 2002, Ricci et al 2002, Oosterhuis and Vermes 2004, Mahfouz 2009, Rylander et al 2009, Gatimel et al 2013, Gomez-Lopez et al 2013, Ruvolo et al 2013.…”

Seminal anti-Müllerian hormone levels during recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone treatment in men with idiopathic infertility undergoing assisted reproduction cycles

“…observed that rhFSH treatment increases sperm DNA condensation in idiopathic infertile men (Kamischke et al ., ). In an our experience, we found that rhFSH improves sperm DNA integrity in iOAT men who show increased sperm DFI values (Colacurci et al ., ) confirmed by a later study (Ruvolo et al ., ).…”