title: Serum Levels of Melatonin and Oxidative Stress Markers and Correlation between Them in Infertile Men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Infertility is the problem of 15% of young couples in different societies. One of the factors that could affect fertility is oxidative stress. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the level of Melatonin, a free radical scavenger, and its correlation with oxidative biomarkers in infertile men.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, fertile and infertile men in 2 groups, 30 people in each group, were studied. The fertile men were selected from husbands of patients admitted to Alzahra obstetric and gynecology hospital, according to WHO standards. The infertile men were selected from patients referred to infertility ward. Blood sampling from the participants carried out at a specific time, sera collected and the levels of malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity and Melatonin were detected in the sera. The data were analyzed using t-test and Sperman's correlation method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Melatonin level in the sera from fertile men were 522 (39.32) ng/L and in infertile men were 511.78 (34.6) ng/L. MDA level in fertile and infertile men were 2.26 (0.34) vs 2.99 (0.44) nmol/ml which was significantly different. The level of TAC in the sera from fertile men were significantly higher than in infertile men. The result obtained for correlation coefficient Spearman's test revealed a significant, strong and direct correlation between Melatonin and TAC and a significant and reverse correlation between melatonin and MDA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that melatonin could be involved in infertility. In other word, melatonin treatment and antioxidant-rich nutrition could help fertility by combating oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Alzahra Hospital, Faculty of Medicine,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soleimani Rad
authors.affiliation: Women's Reproductive Health Research Center,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Shamsi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abbasalizadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghorbani Haghjo
authors.affiliation: Women's Reproductive Health Research Center,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehzad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadagheyani
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Azadeh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montaseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine,Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Soleimani Rad
keywords: Antioxidant; Infertility; Malondialdehyde; Melatonin; Oxidative stress