• DNA oxidation and fragmentation levels in globozoospermic and normozoospermic men
  • Fahimeh Hosseinabadi,1 Leila Rashki Ghaleno,2 AliReza Alizadeh,3 Poopak Eftekhari Yazdi,4 Mojtaba Rezazadeh Valojerdi,5,*
    1. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
    2. Department of Embryology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Embryology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
    4. Department of Embryology, Reproductive Biomedicine Research Center, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran
    5. Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: DNA oxidative damages in spermatozoa include DNA oxidation, DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial DNA damage, telomere attrition, epigenetic abnormalities, and Y chromosome microdeletions. Nowadays sperm DNA oxidation of guanine is an important and more attractive subject in the field of male infertility which affects sperm DNA, morphology and functionality of sperm, fertilization rate, embryo development, implantation, and pregnancy. Globozoospermia, a rare form of teratozoospermia, is characterized by sperm with a spherical head and the absence of an acrosome. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the levels of DNA oxidation of guanine and fragmentation in men with globozoospermia versus those with normozoospermia and their relation to protamine deficiency.
  • Methods: Semen samples were collected from 39 couples who referred for ICSI treatment in the Royan Institute, which included 25 individuals with normospermia and 14 with globozoospermia, all with their informed consent. Semen analysis was performed according to World Health Organization guideline (sixth edition). Following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the remaining semen sample was washed and separated into sperm and seminal plasma. The sperm DNA damages were evaluated by immunostaining, sperm chromatin dispersion test and chromomycin A3 (CMA3) for DNA oxidation of guanine, DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency respectively. The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was applied to assess the data distribution's normality. Student's t-test analyzed differences between two groups and Pearson correlation was performed to analyze correlations between the variables. p <0.05 will be considered significant.
  • Results: According to statistical analysis, sperm DNA oxidation displayed a significant increase in globozoospermia (p <0.05) against normospermic group and also sperm exhibited a significantly higher percentage of protamine deficiency and DNA fragmentation in globospermic group compared to normpspermic group (p <0.001). Furthermore, our research showed a positive significant correlation of DNA oxidation with DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency.
  • Conclusion: Protamine deficiency in sperm chromatin is more commonly in cases of globozoospermia that makes sperm DNA more susceptible to damage of oxidative stress. The elevated level of DNA oxidation in globozoospermia may have implications outcome of ART outcomes.
  • Keywords: Globozoospermia, Stress oxidative, DNA oxidation, DNA fragmentation