Comparison of three sperm selection methods for ICSI-DGC, Cumulus column, and incubation with supernatant product of adipose tissue-derived adult stem cells: An experimental study

BACKGROUND: The examination of sperm parameters and sperm DNA integrity are necessary for male fertility expression. These parameters can be affected by method of sperm separation. OBJECTIVE: To measure the damage of each sperm separation method on the sperm parameters and sperm DNA integrity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, semen samples of 20 infertile men with asthenoteratozoospermia (Infertility Research Center, Qom, Iran, 2017) were processed in three ways: density gradient centrifugation (DGC), cumulus column, and incubation with supernatant products of adipose tissue-derived adult stem cells (SPAS). The results of sperm parameters and DNA fragmentation before and after the process were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The number of separated sperms by normal morphologies during the SPAS and the cumulus column was significantly more than the corresponding population in the DGC group. In addition, although all three methods have the same ability to increase total sperm motility and the number of recovered sperms, in the field of forwarding movement and DNA fragmentation, the SPAS method performed more efficiently (p = 0.021). CONCLUSION: Sperm parameters and DNA fragmentation in the SPAS group were better than those in the DGC and cumulus column groups. Furthermore, it has been shown that the sperm capacity was increased with the SPAS method. However, the rearrangement of sperm chromatin by reducing the disulfide bridges and providing the possibility of re-histone over capacity causes a significant reduction in DNA fragmentation.