Evaluation of sperm chromatin/DNA integrity, morphology, and Catsper expression on diabetic C57BL/6 mice

• Published in: Cellular and Molecular Biology Vol. 68; no. 2; pp. 8 - 18
• Main Authors: Elnaz Khordad, Mohammad Reza Nikravesh, Mahdi Jalali, Alireza Fazel, Mojtaba Sankian, Fatemeh Alipour
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 28-02-2022
• ISSN: 0145-5680; 1165-158X
• DOI: 10.14715/cmb/2022.68.2.2

Diabetes is associated with reproductive impairment in the male reproductive system and causes
complications such as decreased libido, fertility, spermatogenesis, sperm motility, and morphology. High
levels of blood sugar may affect sperm quality and reduce the potential for male fertility. Increased levels
of sperm DNA damage are often associated with reduced count and motility or abnormal morphology.
This experimental study was conducted at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. In this work, 40 mice
(C57BL/6) were divided randomly into 4 groups: 1) Control, 2) Diabetic, 3) Diabetic + Insulin, and 4)
Sham. After 35 days, the right epididymis of all specimens was used for Real-Time PCR and the left
epididymis for evaluation of sperm parameters using Aniline blue, Toluidine blue, Papanicolaou, and
immunohistochemical study. Also, testes were applied for immunohistochemical, TUNEL studies, and
biochemical assay. Results of this study showed that chromatin integrity, morphology, cation channels
of sperm (Catsper) expression, and biochemical factors level were significantly changed in diabetic mice
in comparison to other groups (P<0.05) and treatment with insulin improved these parameters. Our
findings showed that the sperm parameters such as DNA integrity, morphology, and Catsper expression
change in diabetic mice.