Objective: To quantify the levels of reactive oxygen species, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and interleukins (IL) 2 and 8 in seminal plasma of infertile patients as well as to examine the possible relationship between oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines.
Design: Semen collected from normal fertile donors, infertile men without symptoms of genitourinary (GU) inflammation, and infertile men with symptoms of infection-inflammation of the GU tract was evaluated for the levels of granulocyte elastase, reactive oxygen species, SOD, IL-2, and IL-8. Any correlation between the levels of reactive oxygen species and other parameters in these population was analyzed statistically.
Results: Significantly high levels of granulocyte elastase (18.32 +/- 1.52 U/L), reactive oxygen species (6 x 10(5) cpm), IL-8 (3.7 +/- 0.10 microgram/L), and IL-2 (18.32 +/- 1.47 ng/L) were observed in semen of infertile patients with leukocytospermia compared with the other two groups. In leukocytospermic samples, the activity of SOD was significantly lower (624.89 +/- 41.16 NU/mL) compared with nonleukocytospermic samples (787.85 +/- 24.26 NU/mL) or fertile donors (816.29 +/- 50.16 NU/mL). A significant positive correlation was observed between the levels of reactive oxygen species and IL-8.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that increased oxidative stress observed during leukocytospermia may modulate the level of proinflammatory cytokines. The increased oxidative stress may be due to a defect in the reactive oxygen species scavenging system.