Eguonoghene Urephu

Male infertility is a relatively common condition affecting approximately 50% of couples. Male infertility has been associated with oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation, but calculated lipid peroxidation index is seldomly used to assess the extent of oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of lipid peroxidation index of oligospermic infertile males. A total of 120 subjects were recruited for the study which included 70 infertile males and 50 males of proven fertility as controls. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant status (TAS) were measured in the seminal fluid by spectrophotometric methods. Semen analysis was performed on the sample according to the World Health Organization criteria. The lipid peroxidation index was calculated as the ratio of MDA and TAS. The mean levels of measured sperm indices, MDA and TAS were compared between infertile and fertile subjects using students-t-test. The sperm count, the total motility and percentage morphology were significantly lower (p˂0.001) in the infertile males compared with the controls. The mean level of MDA was significantly higher (p˂0.001) while TAS was significantly lower (p<0.001) in infertile males than controls. The lipid peroxidation index was higher in oligospermic male subjects than control and correlates negatively with sperm count(r=-0.321;p<0.01), progressive motility(r=-0.292;p<0.02), percent morphology(r=-0.238;p<0.05). Lipid peroxidation index may be easy and better predictor of oxidative stress in oligospermia.