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Updated: May 15, 2026

Flow Cytometric Analysis of Biomarkers for Detecting Human Sperm Functional Defects
Published on: April 21, 2022
[Sperm DNA damage and sperm-nucleoprotein transition correlate to acrosin activity and seminal parameters]
Jiu-Jia Zheng1, Xu Yang, Li-Ya Zhang
1Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, China. zhengjiujia@126.com
Objective:
To investigate the correlation of sperm DNA damage and sperm-nucleoprotein transition with acrosin activity and seminal parameters.
Methods:
We collected 535 semen samples, assessed sperm DNA damage by sperm chromatin dispersion test, and analyzed the correlation of sperm DNA damage and sperm-nucleoprotein transition with acrosin activity and seminal parameters according to the WHO criteria.
Results:
Statistically significant differences were observed in sperm DNA damage among sperm-nucleoprotein transition, acrosin activity, sperm concentration and the percentage of grade a + b sperm (P < 0.01). Sperm DNA damage was positively correlated with age, sperm-nucleoprotein transition, sperm concentration and the percentage of grade d sperm (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05), but negatively correlated with acrosin activity (P < 0.001). Stepwise linear regression analysis demonstrated that age, sperm concentration, the percentage of grade d sperm, sperm-nucleoprotein transition and acrosin activity were independent variables related to the DNA fragmentation index (DFI). The abnormality rates of sperm-nucleoprotein transition, acrosin activity, sperm concentration and graded a + b sperm were significantly higher in the sperm DNA damage group (DFI > or = 30%) than in the normal control (DFI < 30%) (P < 0.01).
Conclusion:
Sperm DNA damage is closely related with sperm-nucleoprotein transition, acrosin activity and seminal parameters, which may become another important independent parameter for the evaluation of sperm quality.
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