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Updated: May 29, 2026

Flow Cytometric Analysis of Biomarkers for Detecting Human Sperm Functional Defects
Published on: April 21, 2022
[Association of age with sperm DNA fragmentation]
Fabrizzio Horta1, Marcia Madariaga, Alejandra García
1Instituto de Investigaciones Materno Infantil, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Background:
There is an association between aging ana an increased number of sperms with alterations in nuclear DNA.
Aim:
To study the association between age and fragmentation of sperm DNA.
Material And Methods:
Sixty two volunteers provided semen for analysis. These were separated in a group aged less than forty years and a second group aged more than forty years. Sperm DNA fragmentation was studied by TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated 2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate nick end-labeling) and SCD (sperm chromatin dispersion test) assays.
Results:
Compared with their younger counterparts, patients aged more than 40 years had a higher proportion of sperms with DNA fragmentation by TUNEL (20 ± 1.3 and 24 ± 1.9% respectively, p < 0.05) and SCD (22 ± 1.4 and 26 ± 1.6% respectively, p < 0.05). The results of both assays had a correlation coefficient of O.8. No differences between groups were observed for other seminal parameters.
Conclusions:
Sperm DNA fragmentation increases with age in males.
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