Magnetic activated cell sorting: an effective method for reduction of sperm DNA fragmentation in varicocele men prior to assisted reproductive techniques

Semen parameters of varicocele men have been usually suspected to exhibit higher levels of abnormalities including DNA fragmentation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptotic markers. Negative correlation between increased level of DNA fragmentation and assisted reproductive techniques (ART) outcome has been studied by several authors. In the current study, we aim to evaluate the possible value of magnetic activated cell sorting (MACs) technology in reduction of DNA fragmentation in infertile varicocele patients prior to ART. Semen samples, collected from 36 varicocele patients, were prepared by density gradient centrifugation (DGC). Every sample was subsequently divided into two aliquots. One aliquot was kept untouched as pre-MACs control while the other aliquot was subjected to MACs technique, for depletion of apoptotic spermatozoa, and serves as post-MACs test. Sperm count, motility and DNA fragmentations were evaluated for both control and test samples. Post-MACs samples showed no deleterious reduction in total sperm motility (80.64 +/- 6.97%) compared with control samples (80.97 +/- 7.74%) while sperm DNA fragmentations were significantly reduced in post-MACs samples (9.61 +/- 5.62%) compared with pre-MACs controls (12.43 +/- 6.29%) (P<0.05). It can be concluded that MACs technique is a simple, noninvasive, technique that can efficiently reduce DNA fragmentation in infertile varicocele patients prior to ART.