Lifestyle influences human sperm functional quality

Abstract Objective To investigate the impact of acute lifestyle changes on human sperm functional quality. Methods In the academic festivities week, young and apparently healthy male students who voluntarily submit themselves to acute lifestyle alterations (among the potentially important variations are increase in alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco consumption and circadian rhythm shifts) were used as a model system. Sperm samples were obtained before and after the academic week and compared by traditional semen analysis ( n =54) and also tested for cleaved Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) protein, an apoptotic marker ( n =35). Results Acute lifestyle changes that occurred during the academic week festivities (the study model) resulted both in a significant reduction in sperm quality, assessed by basic semen analysis (decrease in sperm concentration, total number of spermatozoa, progressive and non-progressive motility and increase in sperm morphological abnormalities) and by an increase in the expression of the apoptotic marker, cleaved PARP, in the ejaculate. Conclusions Acute lifestyle changes have clear deleterious effects on sperm quality. We propose cleaved PARP as a novel molecular marker, valuable for assessing sperm quality in parallel with the basic semen analysis method.