Supraphysiological Free Radical Levels and their Pathogenesis in Male Infertility

Abstract

Oxidative stress is an important aetiological factor which leads to sperm DNA damage and infertility. It damages all biomolecules and both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA and adversely affects sperm membrane fluidity and motility. This acts like a biological safeguard however use of such sperm for ART/ICSI can lead to pre and post implantation losses, major and minor congenital malformations and even childhood cancer. Thus it is important to know the causes of oxidative stress and how the levels of free radicals be maintained at physiological levels when they are beneficial for normal function. It is also important to develop techniques to identity cases with high free radical levels and also adopt certain life style measures which can minimise oxidative stress and improve male reproductive health.

Association of \(\textit{FSIP2}\) rs4666689 and \(\textit{PON2}\) rs7493 with male infertility in Vietnamese population

“…Genetic variants in the gene, particularly PON2 rs7493, potentially alter its functions, resulting in a reduction of serum paraoxonase activity (Mochizuki et al, 1998;Sanghera et al, 1998), and subsequently lead to increased oxidative stress. An excessive amount of ROS can cause defects in sperm functions, damage sperm DNA and are contributed as potential factors in 30-80% of infertile men (Dinesh, 2012;Wagner et al, 2018). However, previous studies on the correlation of polymorphisms in such genes appeared in limited amounts and generated inconsistent results.…”