Short Abstinence May Have Paradoxical Effects On Sperms With Different Level Of DNA Integrity: A Prospective Study

To investigate the effect of short abstinence on sperm function tests and semen parameters.

This prospective study included 65 male patients with increased DNA injury in their ejaculated sperm and a history of recurrent pregnancy loss and/or assisted reproductive techniques failures. The effects of antioxidants medical therapy and short abstinence on semen quality were assessed (TUNEL test and CMA3 staining).

Antioxidants have statistically significant effects on mean sperm concentration (untreated, 67.51 ± 44.40 million/ml, vs. treated, 56.09 ± 37.85 million/ml; P -value=0.005) and mean TUNEL score (untreated, 24.56% ± 9.49%, vs. treated, 20.64% ± 10.28%; P -value = 0.013). Moreover, a short abstinence period might have positive effects as shown on the TUNEL assay (20.64% ± 10.28 vs. 17.38% ± 8.59 ; P -value = 0.028) and CMA3 staining (47.79% ± 20.78, vs. short 41.92% ± 18.49; P -value = 0.019), when considering all study subjects. However, different results were obtained using more precise analysis based on a TUNEL cutoff score of 20%. The analysis showed that short abstinence might improve sperm DNA integrity in patients with TUNEL score > 20% (mean TUNEL score from 27.85% ± 8.32% to 19.14% ± 8.90% ; P -value =0.001%). However, it might have deleterious effects on sperm DNA integrity in patients with TUNEL score < 20% (mean TUNEL score from 11.89% ± 3.21% to 15.17% ± 7.79%; P -value = 0.045%)

Our results showed that short abstinence may not be beneficial in all infertile males, and it should only be used in selected patients with abnormal DNA integrity.