ASSOCIATION OF LEUKOCYTE ACTIVITY AND DNA FRAGMENTATION IN MEN WITH NON-OBSTRUCTIVE AZOOSPERMIA

According to the statistics of the Russian Federation, the number of patients with male infertility increased by 60.3% over the past 12 years. Objective - to evaluate the activity of peripheral blood leukocytes, the rate of their production of reactive oxygen species, and the DNA fragmentation index in men with non-obstructive azoospermia. To solve this problem, we examined 65 men with non-obstructive idiopathic azoospermia. A control group consisted of 20 healthy fertile men. All patients underwent examination of ejaculate with measurement of levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA fragmentation. To identify additional links in the pathogenesis of infertility, we determined the functional activity of peripheral blood leukocytes by registering luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (LCH) of leukocytes. The functional activity of leukocytes in men with azoospermia was found to be 4.5 times higher than in healthy men (p<0.01). We found that with such leukocyte activity the level of ROS and DNA fragmentation was 6 times higher in patients with infertility compared to the control group.