P-48: Evaluation of Sperm ChromatinStructure in Patients with Partial Globozoospermia

Background: Globozoospermia is an uncommon disorder of sperm morphology associated with severe male infertility. Patients who contain both normal and round-headed sperm are called partial globozoospermic. It is possible that round-headed sperm may have an abnormal chromatin structure and /or DNA strand breaks. Moreover, sperm DNA fragmentation and protamine deficiency is shown to be associated with teratozoospermia. The aim of this study was to evaluate protamine content and DNA integrity of patients with partial globozoospermia who referred to Royan Institute. Materials and Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 64 subjects including 23 infertile men with round-headed sperm (above 40%) and 41 normozospermic men as control were recruited over a 30-month period. Semen examination was based on World Health Organization guidelines. Sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), TdTmediated- dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), Chromomycin A3 (CMA3) assays were done for evaluation of the chromatin structure. Results: Data analysis revealed that percentage of CMA3- positive and TUNEL-positive spermatozoa were higher in the individuals with partial globozoospermia than the men with normal spermogram. There was not statistically significant difference in sperm DNA fragmentation between two groups using SCSA method. Conclusion: Some specific morphological abnormalities were shown to be predictive of DNA alteration. The present study demonstrated that men with round-head sperm have protamine deficiency and an elevated risk for DNA fragmentation in their sperm compared to that of control group. TUNEL and CMA3 are useful to assess DFI in globozoospermic patients but it seems that SCSA is not a suitable method in such cases. Further, confirmation in a larger scale study is needed.