Coenzyme Q10 and oxidative stress markers in seminal plasma of Iraqi patients with male infertility

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate seminal plasma coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) levels and oxidative stress in patients with different types of male infertility.

METHODS: A case-control study was carried out in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq from the period of November 2004 to July 2006. Sixty patients with male infertility were recruited from Al-Kadhimia Teaching Hospital, Baghdad and included in this study. The male patients were categorized according to their seminal fluid parameters to oligozoospermia (n=32), azoospermia (n=22), and asthenozoospermia (n=6). All obtained results from infertile men groups were compared with age-matched healthy volunteers as control group consisting of 39 subjects. Seminal plasma samples were analyzed for CoQ10 by an improved high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method and for malondialdehyde (MDA) as an index of oxidative stress.

RESULTS: The mean seminal plasma CoQ10 was 1.10±0.169 mg/L in oligozoospermia, 0.567±0.098 mg/L in azoospermia, 0.740±0.06 mg/L in patients with asthenozoospermia, and 1.652±0.139 mg/L in control group. The seminal plasma CoQ10 levels in all infertility groups showed a significant difference from the control group (p</=0.0001). High significant increase (p</=0.001) in the MDA levels was noted in the seminal plasma of oligozoospermia 11.37±1.64 umole/L, azoospermia 13.87±1.62 umole/L, and asthenozoospermia group 9.508±0.533 umole/L whereas the level in the control group was 8.517± 0.622 µmole/L. Seminal plasma CoQ10 was inversely and significantly correlated with MDA (r= -0.760; p=0.000).

CONCLUSION: Elevated seminal plasma CoQ10 levels are associated directly with good semen parameters and inversely with the oxidative stress.