Oxidation reduction potential: a reliable and reproducible method

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Oxidation reduction potential (ORP) is a new tool to measure oxidative stress (OS) and has been shown to serve as an accurate predictor of poor semen quality in infertile men. Recent studies have shown that ORP test is a simple, quick, inexpensive and reproducible test of OS status in semen. Assessment of sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) has been shown recently to correlate with fertility outcome in spontaneous pregnancy and assisted reproduction. OS is known as a major cause of SDF. We therefore, set out to investigate the relationship between the ORP and SDF in patients with male infertility. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study included 309 infertile patients (Group 1) and 47 normal fertile donors (controls; Group 2) between Jan to Jun 2016 at a tertiary medical center. Patients with azoospermia, leukocytospermia, history of smoking, sexually transmitted diseases or those receiving antioxidants were excluded. Data on medical history, physical examination, semen analysis, ORP and SDF testing was collected.RESULTS: The mean age of all subjects was 35.6 AE 7.85; and there were no differences between the two groups. Patients had significantly higher ORP (2.74 AE 3.92 vs. 1.26 AE 1.12 mV/10 6 sperm/mL; P<0.001) and SDF (27.6 AE 17.8% vs. 15.68 AE 6.31%, P<0.001) than controls. ORP levels correlated significantly with SDF in all subjects (r ¼ 0.256; P<0.001) and in patients group (r ¼ 0.222; P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: Correlation of ORP levels with SDF confirms the causal relationship between OS and SDF. ORP could be used as a surrogate marker for SDF in clinics which lack access to highly complex sperm function testing due to the expense or need for highly trained laboratory personnel.