title: Oral antioxidant treatment partly improves integrity of human sperm DNA in infertile grade I varicocele patients.
abstract: Infertile males with varicocele have the highest percentage of sperm cells with damaged DNA, compared to other infertile groups. Antioxidant treatment is known to enhance the integrity of sperm DNA; however, there are no data on the effects in varicocele patients. We thus investigated the potential benefits of antioxidant treatment specifically in grade I varicocele males. Twenty infertile patients with grade I varicocele were given multivitamins (1500 mg L-Carnitine, 60 mg vitamin C, 20 mg coenzyme Q10, 10 mg vitamin E, 200 μg vitamin B9, 1 μg vitamin B12, 10 mg zinc, 50 μg selenium) daily for three months. Semen parameters including total sperm count, concentration, progressive motility, vitality, and morphology were determined before and after treatment. In addition, sperm DNA fragmentation and the amount of highly degraded sperm cells were analyzed by Sperm Chromatin Dispersion. After treatment, patients showed an average relative reduction of 22.1% in sperm DNA fragmentation (p = 0.02) and had 31.3% fewer highly degraded sperm cells (p = 0.07). Total numbers of sperm cells were increased (p = 0.04), but other semen parameters were unaffected. These data suggest that sperm DNA integrity in grade I varicocele patients may be improved by oral antioxidant treatment.
authors.affiliation: a Servei d'Urologia, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí - UAB , Sabadell , Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gual-Frau
authors.affiliation: a Servei d'Urologia, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí - UAB , Sabadell , Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abad
authors.affiliation: b UDIAT, Centre Diagnòstic, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí - UAB , Sabadell , Spain.
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Amengual
authors.affiliation: a Servei d'Urologia, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí - UAB , Sabadell , Spain.
authors.forename: Naim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hannaoui
authors.affiliation: c Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology , Parc de Salut Mar, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , Barcelona , Spain.|d Andrology Laboratory, CIRH, Clínica Corachan, ANACER , Barcelona , Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Checa
authors.affiliation: e Departament de Biologia Cel lular i Gen tica M dica. Universitat Aut noma de Barcelona , Bellaterra , Spain.|f Centro de Infertilidad Masculina y Análisis de Barcelona (CIMAB), Edifici Eureka, PBM5, Parc de Recerca de la UAB (PRUAB), Campus de la UAB , Bellaterra , Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ribas-Maynou
authors.affiliation: f Centro de Infertilidad Masculina y Análisis de Barcelona (CIMAB), Edifici Eureka, PBM5, Parc de Recerca de la UAB (PRUAB), Campus de la UAB , Bellaterra , Spain.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lozano
authors.affiliation: f Centro de Infertilidad Masculina y Análisis de Barcelona (CIMAB), Edifici Eureka, PBM5, Parc de Recerca de la UAB (PRUAB), Campus de la UAB , Bellaterra , Spain.
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikolaou
authors.affiliation: e Departament de Biologia Cel lular i Gen tica M dica. Universitat Aut noma de Barcelona , Bellaterra , Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benet
authors.affiliation: e Departament de Biologia Cel lular i Gen tica M dica. Universitat Aut noma de Barcelona , Bellaterra , Spain.|f Centro de Infertilidad Masculina y Análisis de Barcelona (CIMAB), Edifici Eureka, PBM5, Parc de Recerca de la UAB (PRUAB), Campus de la UAB , Bellaterra , Spain.
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García-Peiró
authors.affiliation: a Servei d'Urologia, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí - UAB , Sabadell , Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prats
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002331:Carnitine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002470:Cell Survival; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000187:drug effects*; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D014451:Ubiquinone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D014646:Varicocele / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014803:Vitamin B Complex / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015032:Zinc / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D014803:Vitamin B Complex; D014451:Ubiquinone; D014810:Vitamin E; D004247:DNA; C024989:coenzyme Q10; D015032:Zinc; D001205:Ascorbic Acid; D002331:Carnitine
keywords: L-carnitine; Male factor infertility; antioxidants; chromatin dispersion; sperm; sperm DNA; varicocele