ABSTRACT
Objective@#Oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathogenesis of male infertility. But, the adverse effects of oxidative biomarkers on sperm quality remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the levels of nitric oxide (NO), 8-hydroxydesoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) oxidative biomarkers in seminal plasma and their relationship with sperm parameters. @*Methods@#A total of 77 volunteers participated in the study, including fertile (n=40) and infertile men (n=37). NO, 8-OHdG, and TAC levels were measured using the ferric reducing ability of plasma, Griess reagent method and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, respectively. @*Results@#The mean values of sperm parameters in the infertile group were significantly lower than those in the fertile group (p<0.001). The mean 8-OHdG in the seminal plasma of infertile men was significantly higher (p=0.013) than those of controls, while the mean TAC was significantly lower (p=0.046). There was no significant difference in NO level between the two groups. The elevated seminal 8-OHdG levels were negatively correlated with semen volume, total sperm counts and morphology (p<0.001, p=0.001 and p=0.052, respectively). NO levels were negatively correlated with semen volume, total sperm counts and morphology (p=0.014, p=0.020 and p=0.060, respectively). Positive correlations between TAC and both sperm count and morphology (p=0.043 and p=0.025, respectively) were also found. @*Conclusion@#These results suggested that increased levels of NO and 8-OHdG in seminal plasma could have a negative effect on sperm function by inducing damage to the sperm DNA hence their fertility potentials. Therefore, these biomarkers can be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility.
ABSTRACT
Systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE] is an autoimmune disease with unknown etiology. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist [IL-1Ra] is naturally occurring cytokine that inhibits interleukin-1 [IL-1] activity by binding to the IL-1 receptors without signal transduction. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between IL-1Ra gene 86bp VNTR polymorphism and systemic lupus erythematosus in the South- East of Iran. In this case control study, genetic polymorphism was analyzed in 163 SLE patients and 183 healthy controls. Genotyping of IL-1Ra VNTR polymorphism was determined by gel electrophoresis after PCR amplification. IL-1Ra VNTR alleles have different copies of 86bp tandem repeats: allele 1[four repeats], allele 2 [two repeats], allele 3 [five repeats], allele 4 [three repeats] and allele 5 [six repeats]. We found an increased frequency of IL-1Ra allele 4 and 1/4 genotype in SLE patients compared to healthy controls [p=0.001 and p=0.002 respectively]. Whereas, the frequency of IL-1Ra allele 3 was higher in controls than SLE patients [p=0.01]. There was no any association between the IL-1Ra allele 2 and SLE. We did not observe any association between IL-1Ra polymorphism and SLE manifestations. We concluded that IL-1Ra allele 4 was involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. However, there was no association between the IL-1Ra allele 2 and SLE in South East of Iran