Sperm Parameters and Chromatin Integrity in Men Suffering from Celiac Disease: Insights into Reproductive Health, Case-Control Study

Celiac disease is a common chronic inflammatory condition of the small intestine caused by permanent intolerance to gluten/gliadin. It has been demonstrated that oxidative stress is one of the mechanisms that is involved in gliadin toxicity, and there is a correlation between oxidative damage with this disease. Similarly, increased oxidative stress was repeatedly reported in infertile men which led to low-quality of sperm function. Therefore, we aimed to assess sperm parameters and chromatin status in men with Celiac disease.

In this case-control study, semen samples were collected from 11 fertile men without Celiac and 10 men with diagnostic Celiac disease. Basic semen analyses were performed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2010 protocol. The percentage of sperm with persistence histones, protamine deficiency, DNA fragmentation, malondialdehyde (MDA), and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were assessed using aniline blue, chromomycin A3, sperm chromatin structure assay, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay, and diacetyldichlorofluorescein staining, respectively.

Unlike the sperm parameters, which did not show significant differences between men with Celiac disease and fertile individuals, sperm chromatin maturation (persistence histones and protamine deficiency) and sperm DNA damage in men with Celiac disease were significantly higher compared to fertile individuals (P<0.05). In addition, the percentage of sperm viability in these individuals was significantly lower than that in the fertile individuals (P<0.05). We did not observe any significant differences in sperm lipid peroxidation and intracellular ROS levels between the two study groups (P>0.05).

Celiac disease affects sperm chromatin maturation and DNA fragmentation, emphasizing its impact on reproductive health.