Objective: Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) is widely used to predict male infertility and the methods of detecting SDF are varied. This study aimed to compare two methods of SDF detection and investigate the correlation between SDF and sperm quality.
Methods: Using sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD), we detected SDF in 108 semen samples collected in the Center of Reproduction and Genetics of Suzhou Municipal Hospital. We compared the results of the two methods and analyzed the correlations of SDF routine semen parameters, sperm morphology and the age of the patients.
Results: A significant consistency was found in the SDF index (DFI) between the two methods (P<0.01). The DFI was correlated negatively with sperm motility, the percentage of progressively motile sperm, and that of morphologically normal sperm (P <0.01), but positively with the teratozoospermia index (P <0.01 in SCSA and P <0.05 in SCD). The DFI measured by SCSA showed a significantly positive correlation with the patients' age (P <0.01), but not that obtained by SCD.
Conclusions: The results of both SCSA and SCD play an important role in predicting sperm quality. As a clinical index, the DFI has a predictive value for male infertility. However, the results of different detecting methods vary widely, which calls for further studies on their standardization.
目的： 近年来精子DNA碎片预测男性生育受到广泛关注，其检测方法较多，但方法学的比较研究很少，本文旨在比较精子DNA完整性常用检测方法之间的差异，并分析DNA碎片与精子质量的相关性。 方法： 选择108例精液样本，采用精子染色质结构分析试验(SCSA)和精子染色体扩散实验(SCD)对样本分别进行精子DNA碎片检测分析，对两种方法的结果进行比较，并与精液常规、精子形态以及患者年龄进行相关性分析。 结果： 两种方法检测的精子DNA碎片化指数(DFI)存在显著的一致性（P<0.01），DFI与精子活动率、前向运动精子百分率以及正常形态精子百分率呈显著负相关（P<0.01），与畸形精子指数呈显著正相关（PSCSA<0.01, PSCD<0.05），SCSA得出的DFI与年龄呈显著正相关(P<0.01),而SCD法的DFI并未发现类似的现象。 结论： 两种方法检测的结果对精子质量均有较好的预测价值，精子DFI作为一个检测指标，对男性生育力预测有一定的临床价值。但不同方法之间的检测结果差异较大，检测方法的标准化有待进一步研究。.
Keywords: sperm chromatin structure assay; age; sperm DNA fragmentation; sperm chromatin dispersion test; sperm motility; percentage of morphologically normal sperm.