Sperm Parameters and Chromatin Integrity in Men Suffering from Celiac Disease: Insights into Reproductive Health, Case-Control Study

Abstract

Objective: Celiac disease is a common chronic inflammatory condition of the small intestine caused by permanentintolerance to gluten/gliadin. It has been demonstrated that oxidative stress is one of the mechanisms that is involvedin gliadin toxicity, and there is a correlation between oxidative damage with this disease. Similarly, increased oxidativestress was repeatedly reported in infertile men which led to low-quality of sperm function. Therefore, we aimed toassess sperm parameters and chromatin status in men with Celiac disease.Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, semen samples were collected from 11 fertile men without Celiacand 10 men with diagnostic Celiac disease. Basic semen analyses were performed according to the World HealthOrganization (WHO) 2010 protocol. The percentage of sperm with persistence histones, protamine deficiency, DNAfragmentation, malondialdehyde (MDA), and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were assessed using anilineblue, chromomycin A3, sperm chromatin structure assay, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay, anddiacetyldichlorofluorescein staining, respectively.Results: Unlike the sperm parameters, which did not show significant differences between men with Celiac diseaseand fertile individuals, sperm chromatin maturation (persistence histones and protamine deficiency) and sperm DNAdamage in men with Celiac disease were significantly higher compared to fertile individuals (P0.05).Conclusion: Celiac disease affects sperm chromatin maturation and DNA fragmentation, emphasizing its impact onreproductive health.

Keywords

• celiac
• chromatin
• oxidative stress
• sperm parameters