Abstract
The accurate prediction of male fertility is of major economic importance in the animal breeding industry. However, the results of conventional semen analysis do not always correlate with field fertility outcomes. There is evidence to indicate that mammalian fertilization and subsequent embryo development depend, in part, on the inherent integrity of the sperm DNA. Understanding the complex packaging of mammalian sperm chromatin and assessment of DNA integrity could potentially provide a benchmark in clinical infertility. In the era of assisted reproduction, especially when in-vitro fertilization or gamete intrafallopian transfer or intracytoplasmic sperm injection is used, assessment of sperm DNA integrity is important because spermatozoa are not subjected to the selection process occurring naturally in the female reproductive tract. Although sperm DNA integrity testing measures a significant biological parameter, its precise role in the infertility evaluation in farm animals remains unclear. In this review, the earlier findings on sperm DNA integrity in relation to male fertility are compiled and analyzed. Furthermore, the causes and consequences of sperm DNA damage are described, together with a review of advances in methods for detection of sperm DNA damage, and the prognostic value of sperm DNA quality on male fertility.
Highlights
Infertility has been a concern throughout the ages and is still a significant problem in several species, including human beings, and farm animals
Similar reports on the role of sperm DNA integrity in fertility and/or semen quality are available for other farm animals, including stallion [15, 16], boar [17,18,19], and ram [20, 21]
The method of semen collection has an effect on sperm DNA quality; in farm animals, it was shown that use of an artificial vagina method was superior, in terms of sperm DNA integrity, to electroejaculation for semen collection
Summary
Infertility has been a concern throughout the ages and is still a significant problem in several species, including human beings, and farm animals. Similar reports on the role of sperm DNA integrity in fertility and/or semen quality are available for other farm animals, including stallion [15, 16], boar [17,18,19], and ram [20, 21]. The DNA fragmentation index post-sorting were ∼10% higher than pre-sorting, which may be due to oxidative DNA damage [67] Factors such as high pressure and speed, during sorting, dye-induced defects, electrical deviation, changes in pH and osmolarity, etc might lead to changes to the sperm plasma membrane, trigger pre capacitation-like changes, cause protamine decondensation and alter sperm DNA quality [68]
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