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Updated: May 4, 2026
Flow Cytometric Analysis of Biomarkers for Detecting Human Sperm Functional Defects
Published on: April 21, 2022
[Study on sperm damage caused by trichloroethylene in male rats]
De-sheng Wu1, Lin-qing Yang1, Sui Huang1
1Key Laboratory of Modern Toxicology of Shenzhen, Medical Key Laboratory of GuangDong Province, Medical Key Laboratory of Health Toxicology of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
Objective:
To study in vitro sperm damage caused by trichloroethylene in male rats.
Methods:
Sperms of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were collected 4 hours after being contaminated by trichloroethylene of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mmol/L in vitro. Giemsa staining was performed to observe the morphological changes of sperms, and flow cytometer was used to detect the changes in mitochondrial membrane potential.
Results:
The sperm motilities in 6, 8, and 10 mmol/L trichloroethylene groups decreased significantly compared with that in control group (P <0.01); the sperm aberration rates in 8 and 10 mmol/L trichloroethylene groups were significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.01). With the increase in exposure dose, the proportion of sperms with reduced mitochondrial membrane potential increased, and there were significant differences in sperm apoptosis rate between the 4, 6, 8, and 10 mmol/L trichloroethylene groups and control group (P<0.01).
Conclusion:
In vitro exposure to trichloroethylene can reduce sperm motility and increase the aberration rate and apoptosis rate of sperms in male SD rats.
