| Abstrakt: |
Introduction: Assisted reproductive techniques (ART) are a set of infertility treatment methods in which oocyte and sperm fertilization is performed outside the uterus in laboratory conditions. During the ART technique, in the sperm processing stage, oxidative stress can be caused by exogenous factors such as centrifugation and incubation. Meanwhile, sperm is sensitive to oxidative stress due to the presence of unsaturated fatty acids and lack of cytoplasmic antioxidant enzymes. For this purpose, using antioxidants to reduce oxidative stress and increase the success of ART is considered. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is known as an antioxidant that is able to remove reactive oxygen species. in this study, we decided to investigate the effect of NAC on motility, membrane integrity, DNA fragmentation, and ROS level of normal human sperm during one hour of incubation in vitro. Methods and Materials: Semen samples were collected from 30 normal fertile men, and then each sample was divided into 3 fresh, control, and NAC groups (incubated with 50mM NAC for one hour). Then sperm motility, membrane integrity, DNA fragmentation, and sperm ROS level were measured. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis and were considered significantly different at p<0.05. Results: A significant increase in total and progressive sperm motility was reported in the NAC group compared to the fresh and control groups (P<0.001). The mean percentage of sperm membrane integrity showed a significant increase compared to the control group (P<0.001). A significant decrease in the mean percentage of non-progressive motility, DNA breakage, and sperm ROS level was observed in the NAC group compared to the control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: NAC can improve progressive and total sperm motility and DNA and membrane integrity by reducing the ROS level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
