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Sperm Chromatin Integrity Tests and Indications

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Male Infertility

Abstract

Semen analysis is used routinely to evaluate infertile men. A significant overlap in sperm concentration, motility, and morphology between fertile and infertile men has been demonstrated. Abnormalities in the male genome characterized by damaged sperm DNA may be indicative of male subfertility in the setting of normal semen parameters. Standard semen analysis cannot discern subtle sperm defects such as DNA damage. Sperm chromatin structure evaluation is an independent measure of sperm quality that provides clear diagnostic and prognostic capabilities. There are a number of assays available to measure sperm chromatin integrity and sperm DNA fragmentation. Among them, SCSA, TUNEL assay, and sperm chromatin dispersion assay are more common. Sperm DNA integrity has been shown to be an underlying factor in men with varicocele, unexplained infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, intrauterine insemination failures, and in IVF and ICSI failures. There are multiple factors affecting pregnancy outcome in addition to sperm DNA fragmentation. The lack of established thresholds and conflicting pregnancy outcomes prevent the use of sperm DNA fragmentation as a marker of pregnancy failure. However, it is recommended that sperm DNA fragmentation analysis should be included in the evaluation of the infertile male.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Rakesh Sharma & Ashok Agarwal

  2. Section of Urology, Department of Surgery, University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Manila, Philippines

    Marlon P. Martinez

Authors
  1. Rakesh Sharma
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  2. Marlon P. Martinez
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  3. Ashok Agarwal
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Correspondence to Ashok Agarwal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. PUR Clinic, University of Central Florida (UCF), Clermont, FL, USA

    Sijo J. Parekattil

  2. ANDROFERT and State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil

    Sandro C. Esteves

  3. Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Ashok Agarwal

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Sharma, R., Martinez, M.P., Agarwal, A. (2020). Sperm Chromatin Integrity Tests and Indications. In: Parekattil, S., Esteves, S., Agarwal, A. (eds) Male Infertility. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32300-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32300-4_8

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