Flow Cytometric Assessment of Sperm DNA Fragmentation by TUNEL and Acridine Orange: Methodological and Clinical Insights.

ABSTRACT: Background/Objectives: Male infertility contributes to nearly half of global infertility cases, yet conventional semen analysis is insufficient to predict assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) is a promising biomarker of genomic integrity, but clinical implementation remains hindered by methodological heterogeneity. This study compared two SDF assays-TUNEL and Acridine Orange (AO)-regarding their correlations with semen parameters and ICSI outcomes. Methods: Sixty men undergoing ICSI were prospectively enrolled. SDF was analyzed using two flow cytometric assays: TUNEL (detecting DNA strand breaks) and AO (assessing chromatin instability). Semen quality and ICSI outcomes (fertilization, cl

SUBMITTER: Abdelkarim M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12842179 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature