Male infertility and diabetes- directly related
July 9, 2008 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Male fertility and diabetes… Scientists told the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology that diabetes in men has a direct affect on infertility. The large increase in the amount of diagnosed diabetics led to this research.
This will have large implications for many of couples that are struggling with infertility and the worries that correlate with such problems. Just how did the scientists come to this conclusion when years in past sperm looked no different under the microscope? They had to look further…
“But when we looked for DNA damage, we saw a very different picture,” said Dr. Mallidis, adding that this is not part of a routine semen analysis. “Sperm RNA was significantly altered, and many of the changes we observed are in RNA transcripts involved in DNA repair. And comparison with a database of men of proven fertility confirmed our findings. Diabetics have a significant decrease in their ability to repair sperm DNA, and once this is damaged it cannot be restored.”
via Science Daily
