Oxidative stress and male infertility: from research bench to clinical practice.
By R. Saleh, A. Agarwal. Journal of Andrology, 2002
713 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Extensive research in our center at the Cleveland Clinic indicates that the seminal oxidative stress test has diagnostic and prognostic capabilities beyond those of conventional tests of sperm quality or functions. An oxidative stress test can accurately discriminate between fertile and infertile men and identify patients with a clinical diagnosis of male-factor infertility who are likely to initiate a pregnancy if they are followed over a period of time. In addition, the test can help select subgroups of patients with infertility in which oxidative stress is a significant factor, and who may benefit from antioxidant supplementation. Incorporation of such a test into routine andrology laboratory practice may be of particular importance to the future management of male infertility. In recent years, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the male reproductive tract has become a real concern because of their potential toxic effects at high levels on sperm quality and function. ROS are highly reactive oxidizing agents belonging to the class of free radicals (Aitken, 1994). A free radical is defined as ‘‘any atom or molecule that possesses one or more unpaired electrons’’ (Warren et al, 1987). Recent reports have indicated that high levels of ROS are detected in semen samples of 25% to 40% of infertile men (de Lamirande et al, 1995; Padron et al, 1997). However, a strong body of evidence suggests that small amounts of ROS are necessary for spermatozoa to acquire fertilizing capabilities (Aitken, 1999). Spermatozoa, like all cells living in aerobic conditions, constantly face the oxygen (O2) paradox: O2 is required to support life, but its metabolites such as ROS can modify cell functions, endanger cell survival, or both (de Lamirande and Gagnon, 1995). Hence, ROS must be continuously inactivated to keep only a small
Subfields: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Reproductive Medicine
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Citations in the corpus
- Effect of Oxidative Stress on Male Reproduction (2014, methodology): “All the test tubes are loaded into the luminometer for 15 minutes to assess the ROS levels [8].”
- Role of sperm chromatin abnormalities and DNA damage in male infertility. (2003, background): “This is because ROS, at high levels, are potentially toxic to sperm quality and function (Saleh and Agarwal, 2002).”