title: The correlation between male age, sperm quality and sperm DNA fragmentation in 320 men attending a fertility center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effects of male aging on sperm quality and sperm DNA fragmentation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ejaculates of 320 unselected men attending a fertility clinic and, as a control, 84 normozoospermic men without any history of ART were analyzed according to WHO guidelines. Sperm DNA fragmentation was measured by flow cytometry after staining with propidiumiodide.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients were divided into four groups: <30 years, 30-35 years, 36-39 years and >or=40 years. Sperm motility decreased with increasing age whereas sperm concentration, morphology, and DNA fragmentation fluctuated throughout the four groups both among patients and among controls. However, we could not detect any significant correlation between male age and conventional semen parameters or sperm DNA fragmentation, respectively, neither in the patients' group nor among the controls. This also applies to a classification of patients and controls into only two age groups with a cut-off point at 35 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that neither the routinely assessed semen parameters nor the amount of spermatozoa with fragmented DNA are affected by male age.
authors.affiliation: ReproGen- Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Winkle
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rosenbusch
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gagsteiger
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paiss
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zoller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D004247:DNA / Q000502:physiology; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012661:Semen / Q000166:cytology; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA