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Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on January 5, 2008
Molecular Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/molehr/gam089
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Do heat stress and deficits in DNA repair pathways have a negative impact on male fertility?

Catriona Paul, David W Melton* and Philippa TK Saunders

MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Queen's Medical Research Institute, 47 Little France Crescent, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ

Corresponding Author: Professor Philippa TK Saunders, p.saunders{at}ed.ac.uk

In Europe up to 1 in 4 couples experience difficulty conceiving and in half of these cases the problem has been attributed to sub- or in-fertility in the male partner. The development of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and intra-cytoplasmic spermatozoa injection (ICSI) has allowed some such couples to achieve a pregnancy. Concerns have been raised over the increasing use of ART not least because of the discovery of elevated levels of DNA damage in sperm from subfertile men. The impact of damaged DNA originating in the male germ line is poorly understood, but is thought to contribute to early pregnancy loss (recurrent miscarriage), placental problems and have a long-term impact on the health of the offspring. DNA repair is essential for meiotic recombination and correction of DNA damage in germ cells and proteins involved in all the major repair pathways are expressed in the testis. In this review we will consider evidence that the production of sperm containing damaged DNA can be the result of suboptimal DNA repair and/or a mild environmental insult, such as heat stress, and how studies in mice may give us insight into the origins and consequences of DNA damage in human sperm.

Key Words: DNA repair/Male fertility/scrotal heat stress/spermatogenesis/sperm DNA damage

* Sir Alastair Currie Cancer Research UK Laboratories, Molecular Medicine Centre, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK EH4 2XU

Submitted on October 9, 2007; resubmitted on November 28, 2007; accepted on December 4, 2007.


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