Fatemeh Eini: Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran. feini13@gmail.com.
Maryam Azizi Kutenaei: Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Fayegheh Zareei: Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Zeinolabedin Sharifian Dastjerdi: Molecular Medicine Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Maryam Hosseinzadeh Shirzeyli: Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ensieh Salehi: Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
BACKGROUND: Although bacterial infections have been recognized as a possible cause of male infertility, the effect of bacterial infections on sperm quality and sperm DNA fragmentation remains controversial. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of bacterial infection in subfertile men and its effect on semen quality. Seminal fluid was collected from 172 male members of infertile couples attending the andrology infertility center and a group of 35 fertile subjects as a control. Sperm parameters and DNA fragmentation were evaluated based on the type of bacteria in all ejaculates. RESULTS: From the 172 patients investigated for infertility, 60 (34.88%) patients had a positive culture for pathogenic bacteria of different species. Leukocytospermia was significantly higher in infected samples in comparison with non-infected samples (p < 0.05). Sperm concentration and motility and morphology were significantly lower in infected than non-infected samples. Moreover, sperm DNA fragmentation was significantly higher in infected than non-infected samples. Besides, our results showed that sperm DNA fragmentation was correlated significantly with leukocytospermia (R: 0.22, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The present study suggested that bacterial infection significantly correlated with leukocytospermia could impair male fertility potential through decreasing sperm motility, morphology, and DNA integrity.
