سیامک یاری

Oxidative stress (OS) is known to have an important role in male infertility. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) are known to have strong anti-oxidant effects, hence raising the idea of their potential benefit to improve sperm parameters. This study aims at investigating the effect of NAC on incubated rat sperm parameters. In this study, epididymal sperms were collected from 20 Wistar rats. The sperm suspension was divided into four groups: group 1 (control), group 2 (treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)), group 3 (treated with NAC), group 4 (treated with NAC and H2O2). The samples were incubated in room temperature for 3 h and the assessments were made at 60, 120 and 160 min of incubation. Sperm parameters including viability (with Eosin-nigrosin staining), abnormal morphology (Eosin staining), membrane integrity (with hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test) and chromatin condensation (Aniline blue staining) were evaluated. Results were shown that viability and membrane integrity of sperms treated with H2O2 (group 2), was significantly decreased in all time points compere to other groups. Supplementation of sperms with NAC improved viability of sperms in group 4. Abnormal morphology and chromatin condensation of sperms was decreased in group 2 (treated with H2O2) and decreased in group 4 (treated with NAC). These results may suggest beneficial effect of NAC on sperm viability, morphology, and membrane integrity in vitro and hence can be used in treating infertility and subsequently enhancing IVF outcomes.