Oxidative Stress and Sperm: Technical, Biological and Clinical Aspects—2nd Edition

A special issue of Antioxidants (ISSN 2076-3921). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Outcomes of Antioxidants and Oxidative Stress".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 660

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini, 6, 50139 Florence, Italy
Interests: male infertility; sperm biology; oxidative stress; sperm DNA fragmentation; semen analysis; flow cytometry; nutrition; environmental pollution
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oxidative stress appears to be an underlying cause for many cases of male infertility, as it could be the converging step for several environmental, biological and lifestyle factors impacting sperm formation and function. Induction of reactive oxygen species production is detrimental during in vitro sperm manipulation, including selection for oocyte insemination and semen cryopreservation, posing a potential risk to couples treated with assisted reproductive techniques. Oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms responsible for sperm DNA damage, including DNA fragmentation, a genome anomaly negatively affecting both natural and assisted reproduction. In addition, emerging data suggest that oxidative stress could alter the sperm epigenome. Both genetic and epigenetic damage has the potential to impact not only male reproductive function but also embryo development and the health of offspring.

In this context, further research in this field appears to be of the upmost importance. However, despite a huge number of published studies, there are many areas that remain little explored, including, but not limited to, the following: reliable techniques for revealing oxidative stress; the biological mechanisms of inducing genetic and epigenetic sperm damages; and the clinical meaning and use of the knowledge in this field. The poor clinical results obtained up to now for in vitro and/or in vitro treatment with antioxidant compounds further underline the need for deeper knowledge on this topic.

Dr. Monica Muratori
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • male infertility
  • ROS
  • oxidative sperm DNA damage
  • sperm DNA fragmentation
  • sperm epigenetic damage
  • assisted reproductive techniques
  • in vitro sperm manipulation
  • antioxidants
  • embryo development
  • pregnancy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1176 KiB  
Article
Effect of Different Extenders on the Oxidative Status and Fertility of Sarda Ram Liquid Semen Stored at 15 °C
by Pasciu Valeria, Charbel Nassif, Maria Dattena, Sara Succu, Francesca Daniela Sotgiu, Antonello Cannas, Ignazio Cossu, Elena Baralla, Fabrizio Chessa, Fiammetta Berlinguer and Laura Mara
Antioxidants 2025, 14(8), 932; https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox14080932 - 30 Jul 2025
Viewed by 355
Abstract
Liquid storage is an important tool used to prolong fresh semen shelf-life while protecting spermatozoa from damage, conserving their overall functionality, and ensuring better fertility than frozen semen from sheep. The increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during sperm storage leads to [...] Read more.
Liquid storage is an important tool used to prolong fresh semen shelf-life while protecting spermatozoa from damage, conserving their overall functionality, and ensuring better fertility than frozen semen from sheep. The increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during sperm storage leads to a decline in sperm quality, particularly with regard to sperm nuclear DNA damage and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). This study evaluated the effect of storing Sarda ram semen at 15 °C for 7 h on its redox status, motility, morphology, acrosome integrity, ATP content, mitochondrial potential membrane, and in vivo fertility after artificial insemination. Two different extenders were compared: a lab-made skimmed milk (SM)-based extender and a commercial extender (OviXcell®, IMV-Technologies, France). Lower ROS levels in the SM (p < 0.001) indicated that its oxidative status was better maintained compared to the commercial extender (CE). Antioxidant defenses (total antioxidant capacity, TEAC; superoxide dismutase, SOD; total thiols) were higher in the SM (p < 0.01) than in the CE. SM also had higher MMP (p < 0.05), acrosome integrity (p < 0.05), ATP content (p < 0.01), and in vivo fertilizing capacity (p < 0.05) compared to the CE, which indicated higher semen quality. In conclusion, the SM extender, while maintaining a better oxidative/antioxidant balance, ensured higher semen quality after 7 h of storage at 15 °C in vitro compared to the CE. Full article
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