Thursday, January 05, 2006

Some scientific evidence of sperm damage caused by varicocele

Interesting article on the December 2005 of the scientific journal Human Reproduction. The article was designed to determine the extent of sperm nuclear DNA damage in patients with varicocele and to examine its relationship with oxidative stress.
The investigators compared semen of individuals with varicocele with normal controls and concluded that
the presence of a varicocele is associated with high levels of DNA-damage spermatozoa even in the presence of normal semen profile. The results also indicate that oxidative damage is associated with sperm DNA damage in these patients.

An interesting conclusion . Much is said about the role of varicocele and infertility but there is scant evidence of a clear biologic effect so far. The common wisdom is that varicoceles induce an elevation in testicular temperature, but oxidative stress is now a novel theory. Whether treatment of varicocele is beneficial for most patient is still debated .

Source: Hum Reprod. 2005 Dec 16

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