Is concentration and motility of male gametes related to DNA damage measured by comet assay?

Approximately 8 percent of couples in the World have problem with offspring production. Male infertility, which is the reason of the half of reproduction failures, is connected with diminished sperm production and deterioration of its quality. One important factor which affects fertility is the appearance of DNA damage in germ cells leading to enhanced frequency of mutations. This study aimed to compare the frequency of DNA damage in human spermatozoa in samples of different sperm concentration and motility. The anonymous sperm sample donors were men aged from 20-44 years, couples of pregnant females. Sperm concentration, motility and DNA damage measured by Comet assay were estimated. The following parameters were chosen for analysis of DNA damage: percent of DNA in comet head, comet tail length, tail moment. There were no differences in the mean DNA damage in male gametes between different age groups of donors, nor between samples of different sperm motility. The correlation between low sperm concentration in ejaculate and enhanced level of DNA damage was observed. The highest DNA damage was noted in samples with low sperm concentration. In gametes from this group, the lowest percent of DNA in comet head, the highest mean tail length, and the highest tail moment were observed.