Abstract

Background: In recent years, it is evident from different studies that the oxidative stress has a definite role in inducing male infertility. Antioxidants help to fight against the oxidative stress. Aims and
Objective: To estimate the levels of antioxidants namely ascorbic acid (vitamin C), a-tocopherol (vitamin E), and reduced glutathione (GSH) in the seminal plasma of human subjects with different fertility potential.
Materials and Methods: This study was done on four groups. Four groups were group 1: control (n = 10) normozoospermic fertile, group 2: normozoospermics (n = 20) infertile, group 3: oligo- asthenoteratozoospermics (n = 30) infertile, and group 4: asthenoteratozoospermics (n = 20) infertile. Their semen analysis was done and the levels of the antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and the reduced GSH were measured using analysis of variance (ANOVA)testandBonferroni’sposttest.Result:Coefficientofcorrelation(rvalue)wascalculatedtofindtherelationshipbetween different parameters. Ascorbic acid,a-tocopherol, and reduced GSH level was significantly more in group 1 as compared with the other groups. Ascorbic acid, a-tocopherol, and reduced GSH levels of seminal plasma were found to be positively correlated with spermconcentration(r=0.63,r=0.73,r=0.55,r=0.57),spermmotility(r=0.44,r=0.51,r=0.57,r=0.59),andnormalsperm morphology (r=0.72, r = 0.63, r=0.73, r = 0.59). Conclusion: Decreasing levels of seminal plasma antioxidants could have a significant role in the etiology of impaired sperm function. The seminal plasma antioxidant levels are closely related to male fertility; and the decreased level of antioxidants in seminal plasma may be one of the causes of male infertility.