The correlation between oral neutrophil count with functional parameters of human sperm cells

Abstract

Background: Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples in the world. Male infertility attributes to 20-70% of infertile couples and the percentage of infertile men varies between 2.5-12% in different countries. Several studies have suggested a correlation between periodontitis and reduced male fertility. The link between these ailments may be inflammation. Oral inflammatory load (OIL) can be measured through oral polymorphoneuclear count (oPMN). Research has proven that higher levels of oPMN is associated with periodontitis. The objective of this study was to assess the possible correlation between OIL and functional parameters of sperm cells which indicate male fertility status. Materials and methods: 229 participants were selected and 30 second oral rinses were collected in order to measure OIL via oPMN count. Semen samples were also acquired and analyzed according to clinical and laboratory protocol and sperm concentration, total sperm count, progressive rate, total motility, normal morphology, seminal PMN concentration (sPMN) and sperm DNA fragmentation index (SDFi) were assessed. Multiple linear regression model was conducted to evaluate the relationships between oPMN and seminal parameters. Results: The correlation between elevated counts of oPMNs on total motility rate, progressive rate and percentage of sperm cells with normal morphology was significant (p-value<0.001) and had a negative relation such that on average with every unit increase in oPMN count, the mentioned parameters would decline by 0.573, 0.367, 0.407 units respectively; oPMN counts also correlated positively with sPMN count and SDFi (p-value<0.001) and with every unit increase in the oPMN measures, sPMN counts would increase by 0.126 million/ml, with a 0.733% increase in SDFi. However, there was no statistically significant association between oPMN count and sperm concentration. Conclusion: OIL, as represented by oPMN counts, might affect male fertility status as there is a positive correlation between the levels of these inflammatory cells with decreased sperm motility, abnormal morphological changes, increased numbers of sPMNs as well as increases SDFi.