Objective
To evaluate (1) the relationship between oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and abnormal
sperm quality, and (2) the changes in ORP and sperm parameters over time, in search
of a potential surrogate marker of poor sperm quality that may assist in the diagnosis
of oxidative stress-related male infertility.
Materials and Methods
A total of 194 infertile men were included and 28 patients were identified to have
repeated semen analyses and ORP measurements. The semen samples obtained were categorized
into normal and abnormal sperm parameters based on the World Health Organization's
fifth edition guidelines. Wilcoxon tests were used to compare the results of different
groups. Correlations were analyzed by the Spearman rank-order correlation and receiver
operating characteristic analysis was used to estimate optimal ORP cutoffs for identifying
abnormalities.
Results
ORP levels were significantly elevated in semen samples with abnormal sperm parameters.
ORP at a cutoff of 1.57 (mV/106 sperm) was able to detect at least 1 abnormal sperm parameter with a sensitivity
of 70.4% and a specificity of 88.1%. ORP at a cutoff of 2.59 (mV/106 sperm) had the highest predictive value in detecting oligozoospermia with 88% sensitivity
and 91.2% specificity. The increases in sperm concentration and motility in patients
tested for semen analysis at 2 consecutive time intervals were related to a decline
in ORP levels.
Conclusion
ORP is a reliable method in predicting poor sperm quality. The introduction of ORP
in male infertility evaluation may help overcome the high technical variability of
semen analysis and assist in the diagnosis of oxidative stress-related infertility.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 15, 2017
Accepted:
February 9,
2017
Received:
November 15,
2016
Footnotes
Website: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/ReproductiveResearchCenter/
Financial Disclosure: The authors declare that they have no relevant financial interests.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
