Effects of males' age on sperm apoptosis and DNA integrity / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the correlation of males'age with sperm apoptosis, sperm DNA integrity and other seminal parameters.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We collected 104 semen samples and divided them into three groups according to the males' age: <35 yr (n = 43), 35 -39 yr (n = 31), and > or = 40 yr (n = 30). Based on the WHO Laboratory Manual (4th ed), we detected the seminal parameters, calculated the percentage of apoptotic sperm by flow cytometry (FCM), determined sperm DNA integrity by Acridine orange staining, and compared the results among the three groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no statistically significant differences among the < 35 yr, 35 -39 yr and > or = 40 yr groups in semen volume ([2.87 +/- 0.89] ml vs [2.98 +/- 1.09] ml vs [2.65 +/- 0.95] ml), sperm concentration ([60.40 +/- 25.43] x 10(6)/ml vs [69.74 +/- 28.33] x 10(6)/ml vs [55.97 +/- 27.22] x 10(6)/ml) (P>0.05). The percentage of progressively motile sperm was significantly lower in the > or = 40 yr ([39.00 +/- 8.35 %) than in the <35 and 35 -39 yr groups ([48.73 +/- 9.89]% and [45.65 +/- 10.55]%) (P<.0.1), and so was the percentage of morphologically normal sperm in the > or = 40 yr than in the < 35 yr group ([11.11 +/- 8.26]% vs [16.43 +/- 8.75 ]%, P<0.01). The percentage of apoptotic sperm was markedly higher in the > or = 40 yr than in the <35 yr group ([11.82 +/- 5.77]% vs [7.04 +/- 3.50]%, P<0.01), while the sperm DNA integrity significantly reduced in the > or = 40 yr group ([75.52 +/- 10.60]%) as compared with the <35 yr ([86.55 +/- 5.60])% and 35 -39 yr group ( [81.39 +/- 8.94]%) (P<0.01). The males' age was correlated positively with the rate of sperm apoptosis (P<0.01), and negatively with sperm DNA integrity and the percentage of progressively motile sperm (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The advance in males' age increases sperm apoptosis and reduces sperm progressive motility, normal morphology and DNA integrity.</p>

Influence of male age on the outcome of conventional IVF-ET / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the influence of male age on the outcome of conventional IVF-ET.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Based on male age, 170 couples undergoing conventional IVF-ET were divided into three groups: <35 yr (n = 60), 35 -39 yr (n = 77) and > or = 40 yr (n = 33). We observed the rates of fertilization, cleavage, good quality embryo, implantation, clinical pregnancy and abortion in different groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no significant differences among the three groups in semen volume ([3.10 +/- 1.22] ml vs [2.84 +/- 1.05] ml vs [2.80 +/- 0.79] ml), sperm concentration ([54.23 +/- 26.07] x 10(6)/ml vs [60.27 +/- 24.80] x 10(6)/ml vs [60.21 +/- 27.42] x 10(6)/ml) and sperm viability ([53.93 +/- 13.25]% vs [56.10 +/- 16.58]% vs [51.82 +/- 15.45]%) (P>0.05). The men of the > or = 40 yr group showed a significantly lower percentage of grade a + b sperm ([40.97 +/- 11.91]%) than those of the <35 and 35 - 39 yr groups ([48.47 +/- 11.78]% and [46.84 +/- 13.51]%) (P<0.05), and morphologically normal sperm ([11.76 +/- 5.97]%) than those of the <35 yr group ([15.25 +/- 6.94]% (P<0.05). The rates of fertilization, cleavage, good quality embryo, implantation, clinical pregnancy were 81.52%, 82.61%, 52.33%, 18.06% and 33.33% in the > or = 40 yr group, with no significant differences from those of the <35 yr group (83.18%, 82.68%, 56.99%, 22.40% and 40.00%) and the 35 - 39 yr group (78.78%, 80.66%, 55.01%, 21.74% and 38.96%) (P>0.05), while the abortion rate was markedly increased in the > or = 40 yr group as compared with the <35 yr group (36.36% vs 8.33%, P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Increasing male age is related with decreasing percentages of progressively motile sperm and morphologically normal sperm, but not obviously with the rates of fertilization, good quality embryo, implantation, pregnancy and abortion.</p>