Objective: To evaluate the effect of chronic sleep deprivation on sperm function quality in mice.
Design: Experimental study.
Setting: Not applicable.
Animals: Spermatozoa from twenty-four 10-week-old C57BL/6J male mice.
Intervention(s): The sleep deprivation group underwent gentle handling for 6 hours for 5 consecutive days. The mice in the sleep recovery group were allowed to sleep during the 24-hour period after the sleep deprivation protocol.
Main outcome measure(s): After euthanasia, the spermatozoa were collected for analysis. Sperm motility was evaluated using computer-assisted sperm analyzer. Intracellular superoxide anion (O2-) activity, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity, and DNA fragmentation assays were conducted afterward.
Result(s): Sleep deprivation and sleep recovery groups presented a lower percentage of spermatozoa with an intact acrosome, compared with the respective control groups. Regarding DNA fragmentation, a decreased proportion of spermatozoa with Comet I class intact DNA was observed in the sleep recovery group, compared with the recovery control group. Beat cross frequency was increased in the sleep recovery group.
Conclusion(s): Sleep deprivation can reduce sperm quality, impairing acrosome integrity. Sleep recovery decreased DNA integrity and increased beat cross frequency.
Keywords: Sleep; fertility; functional analysis; sleep recovery; sperm quality; spermatozoa motility.
Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.