Comprehensive analyses of these literatures indicated that since the detection of sperm DNA damage was performed in 2002, it had been applied in some clinical andrology laboratories.
Through searches of “sperm” and “DNA fragmentation index” in PubMed from 2002 to August 2015, we retrieved over 200 literatures associated with sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). However, the potential effects of seminal plasma lipids and reproductive hormones on sperm DNA damage need still to be demonstrated by the studies with scientific design and a large size of samples. There are many potential factors associated with sperm DFI, including age, abstinence time, spermatogenesis and maturation, seminal plasma lipids and reproductive hormones levels. The multivariate regression analysis for the variables which were significantly correlated with sperm DFI in Spearman correlation analysis showed that age, semen volume, sperm concentration, progressive motility, TNPMS and intact acrosome were independently correlated with sperm DFI. Sperm DFI was positively related to serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels and seminal plasma FSH and estradiol (E2) levels ( P<0.001), but unrelated to serum and seminal plasma testosterone (T) levels. There was no any correlation between sperm DFI and obesity-associated markers such as body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and serum lipids levels, but there was positive correlation between sperm DFI and seminal plasma triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels ( P<0.001). Sperm DFI was positively related to seminal plasma zinc level ( P<0.001) but unrelated to seminal plasma total α-glucotase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and fructose levels. Sperm DFI was also positively related to semen volume and percent of abnormal sperm head ( P<0.001), while negatively related to sperm concentration, progressive motility (PR), sperm motility, total normal-progressively motile sperm count (TNPMS), percent of normal sperm morphology (NSM), percent of intact acrosome and acrosomal enzyme activity ( P<0.001). Spearman correlation analysis showed that sperm DFI was positively related to age and abstinence time ( P<0.001). The correlations between DFI and each of the above-mentioned variables were analyzed. Sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) was determined by sperm chromatin structure assay. Their obesity-associated markers, semen parameters, sperm acrosomal enzyme activity, seminal plasma biochemical markers, and reproductive hormones and lipids levels in serum and seminal plasma were detected. In our prospective study, a total of 1 010 subfertile men, aged from 18 to 50 years old, were enrolled from August 2012 through June 2015. However, it is little known that the correlations of sperm DNA damage with obesity-associated markers, and reproductive hormones and lipids levels in serum and seminal plasma. The sperm kinetic parameters provided by CASA-Mot systems can serve as powerful and useful tools for aquaculture and ecological purposes, and this review provides an overview of the major research areas in which fish sperm motility assessment by a CASA-Mot system has been used successfully.Many factors may lead to sperm DNA damage. Since then, a high number of sperm kinetic parameters from more than 170 fish species have been reported in more than 700 scientific articles, covering a wide range of topics, such as sperm physiology, sperm storage, broodstock management, the phenomenon of sperm competition, ecotoxicology and understanding the life cycle of the species.
The first scientific reports focusing on fish sperm motility date from a century ago, but the objective assessment allowed by computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA-Mot) systems was not applied to fish species until the mid-1980s.
Although a relatively high number of sperm quality biomarkers have been reported over the years in several fish species, sperm motility is nowadays considered the best biomarker for fish spermatozoa.