001. ORIGINS OF DNA DAMAGE IN SPERMATOZOA

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
R. J. Aitken

DNA damage is frequently encountered in the spermatozoa of sub-fertile male mammals and is correlated with a range of adverse clinical outcomes including impaired fertilization, disrupted embryonic development, increased rates of miscarriage and an enhanced risk of disease in the progeny. The etiology of DNA fragmentation in human spermatozoa is closely correlated with the appearance of oxidative base adducts and evidence of impaired chromatin remodelling during spermiogenesis. In light of these associations we propose a two step hypothesis for the origins of DNA damage in spermatozoa. In Step 1, a variety of intrinsic (diabetes, varicocele, testicular torsion, obesity) and extrinsic (radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation, heat, cigarette smoke, diet, environmental toxicants) factors collude to generate a state of oxidative stress in the testes. This stress impedes spermiogenesis resulting in the generation of spermatozoa with poorly remodelled chromatin. These defective cells readily default to an apoptotic pathway comprising motility loss, caspase activation, phosphatidylserine exteriorization and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the mitochondria. In Step 2, these mitochondrial ROS attack the spermatozoa inducing lipid peroxidation and oxidative DNA damage, which then leads to DNA strand breakage and cell death. Nucleases activated and released during the apoptotic process are denied access to the sperm nucleus because the unique physical architecture of this cell prevents it. For this reason, a majority of the DNA damage encountered in human spermatozoa is oxidative. Given the importance of oxidative stress in the etiology of DNA damage, there should be a significant therapeutic role for antioxidants in the treatment of this condition. Furthermore, if oxidative DNA damage in spermatozoa is providing a sensitive readout of systemic oxidative stress, the implications of these findings could stretch beyond our immediate goal of trying to minimize DNA damage in spermatozoa as a prelude to assisted conception therapy.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1876-1890 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Xavier ◽  
B Nixon ◽  
S D Roman ◽  
R J Scott ◽  
J R Drevet ◽  
...  

Abstract STUDY QUESTION Do all regions of the paternal genome within the gamete display equivalent vulnerability to oxidative DNA damage? SUMMARY ANSWER Oxidative DNA damage is not randomly distributed in mature human spermatozoa but is instead targeted, with particular chromosomes being especially vulnerable to oxidative stress. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Oxidative DNA damage is frequently encountered in the spermatozoa of male infertility patients. Such lesions can influence the incidence of de novo mutations in children, yet it remains to be established whether all regions of the sperm genome display equivalent susceptibility to attack by reactive oxygen species. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Human spermatozoa obtained from normozoospermic males (n = 8) were split into equivalent samples and subjected to either hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment or vehicle controls before extraction of oxidized DNA using a modified DNA immunoprecipitation (MoDIP) protocol. Specific regions of the genome susceptible to oxidative damage were identified by next-generation sequencing and validated in the spermatozoa of normozoospermic males (n = 18) and in patients undergoing infertility evaluation (n = 14). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Human spermatozoa were obtained from normozoospermic males and divided into two identical samples prior to being incubated with either H2O2 (5 mm, 1 h) to elicit oxidative stress or an equal volume of vehicle (untreated controls). Alternatively, spermatozoa were obtained from fertility patients assessed as having high basal levels of oxidative stress within their spermatozoa. All semen samples were subjected to MoDIP to selectively isolate oxidized DNA, prior to sequencing of the resultant DNA fragments using a next-generation whole-genomic sequencing platform. Bioinformatic analysis was then employed to identify genomic regions vulnerable to oxidative damage, several of which were selected for real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) validation. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Approximately 9000 genomic regions, 150–1000 bp in size, were identified as highly vulnerable to oxidative damage in human spermatozoa. Specific chromosomes showed differential susceptibility to damage, with chromosome 15 being particularly sensitive to oxidative attack while the sex chromosomes were protected. Susceptible regions generally lay outside protamine- and histone-packaged domains. Furthermore, we confirmed that these susceptible genomic sites experienced a dramatic (2–15-fold) increase in their burden of oxidative DNA damage in patients undergoing infertility evaluation compared to normal healthy donors. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION The limited number of samples analysed in this study warrants external validation, as do the implications of our findings. Selection of male fertility patients was based on high basal levels of oxidative stress within their spermatozoa as opposed to specific sub-classes of male factor infertility. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The identification of genomic regions susceptible to oxidation in the male germ line will be of value in focusing future analyses into the mutational load carried by children in response to paternal factors such as age, the treatment of male infertility using ART and paternal exposure to environmental toxicants. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) Project support was provided by the University of Newcastle’s (UoN) Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science. M.J.X. was a recipient of a UoN International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. B.N. is the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Senior Research Fellowship. Authors declare no conflict of interest.


2011 ◽  
Vol 436 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Koppers ◽  
Lisa A. Mitchell ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Minjie Lin ◽  
R. John Aitken

Human spermatozoa are characterized by poor functionality and abundant DNA damage that collude to generate the high incidences of male infertility and miscarriage seen in our species. Although apoptosis has been suggested as a possible cause of poor sperm quality, the ability of these cells to enter an apoptotic state and the factors that might trigger such an event are unresolved. In the present study we provide evidence that the commitment of these cells to apoptosis is negatively regulated by PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)/AKT. If PI3K activity is inhibited, then spermatozoa default to an apoptotic cascade characterized by rapid motility loss, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation, caspase activation in the cytosol, annexin V binding to the cell surface, cytoplasmic vacuolization and oxidative DNA damage. However, the specialized physical architecture of spermatozoa subsequently prevents endonucleases activated during this process from penetrating the sperm nucleus and cleaving the DNA. As a result, DNA fragmentation does not occur as a direct result of apoptosis in spermatozoa as it does in somatic cells, even though oxidative DNA adducts can clearly be detected. We propose that this unusual truncated apoptotic cascade prepares spermatozoa for silent phagocytosis within the female tract and prevents DNA-damaged spermatozoa from participating in fertilization.


2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1706-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaolei Jin ◽  
Hing Man Chan ◽  
Eric Lok ◽  
Kamla Kapal ◽  
Marnie Taylor ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam W. Chan ◽  
Simone Chevalier ◽  
Armen Aprikian ◽  
Junjian Z. Chen

Systemic oxidative stress is associated with a wide range of pathological conditions. Oxidative DNA damage is frequently measured in circulating lymphocytes. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is known to be more sensitive to oxidative damage than nuclear DNA but is rarely used for direct measurement of DNA damage in clinical studies. Based on the supercoiling-sensitive real-time PCR method, we propose a new approach for the noninvasive monitoring of systemic oxidative stress by quantifying the mtDNA structural damage and copy number change in isolated lymphocytes in a single test. We show that lymphocytes have significantly less mtDNA content and relatively lower baseline levels of damage than cancer cell lines. In anex vivochallenge experiment, we demonstrate, for the first time, that exogenous H2O2induces a significant increase in mtDNA damage in lymphocytes from healthy individuals, but no repair activity is observed after 1 h recovery. We further demonstrate that whole blood may serve as a convenient alternative to the isolated lymphocytes in mtDNA analysis. Thus, the blood analysis with the multiple mtDNA end-points proposed in the current study may provide a simple and sensitive test to interrogate the nature and extent of systemic oxidative stress for a broad spectrum of clinical investigations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
R. J. Aitken

Defective sperm function is the largest defined cause of human infertility, affecting one in twenty Australian males. Despite its prevalence, we are only just beginning to understand the underlying mechanisms. The past decade has seen two major advances in this field: (1) the discovery that Y chromosome deletions play a key role in the aetiology of non-obstructive azoospermia/oligozoospermia; and (2) recognition that oxidative stress can impact upon the functional competence of human spermatozoa through peroxidative damage to the sperm plasma membrane. Oxidative stress has also been found to disrupt the integrity of DNA in the male germ line and may represent an important mechanism by which environmental impacts on human health are mediated. Thus, paternal exposure to various toxicants (cigarette smoke, organic solvents, heavy metals) has been linked with oxidative DNA damage in spermatozoa and developmental defects, including cancer, in the F1 generation. The male germ line becomes particularly vulnerable to such factors during the post meiotic stages of differentiation. Pre-meiotic germ cells always have the option of undergoing apoptosis if DNA damage is severe. However, post meiotic germ cells have lost both the ability to mount an apoptotic response and the capacity for DNA repair. As a result, germ cells are particularly vulnerable to genotoxic agents during spermiogenesis and epididymal maturation. If the fertilizing capacity of the spermatozoa is retained following toxicant exposure, then DNA damage will be transferred to the zygote and must be repaired subsequently by the oocyte and/or early embryo. Aberrant DNA repair at this stage has the potential to create mutations that will compromise embryonic development and, ultimately, the normality of the offspring. Elucidating the causes of oxidative damage in spermatozoa should help resolve the aetiology of conditions such as male infertility, early pregnancy loss and childhood disease, including cancer.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 655 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. John Aitken

Deoxyribonucleic acid damage in the male germline is associated with defective fertilisation, impaired embryonic development, reduced implantation, abortion and childhood disease. Oxidative stress and the retention of excess residual cytoplasm by the spermatozoa are frequently associated with the induction of such damage. The redox cycling of xenobiotics by oxido-reductases in the germline, the patient’s age, the incidence of genital tract infections and Sertoli cell dysfunction are all possible contributors to DNA damage in germ cells. Collateral peroxidation of unsaturated fatty acids in the sperm plasma membrane generally ensures that spermatozoa experiencing severe oxidative DNA damage cannot participate in the process of fertilisation. The adaptive termination of pregnancy through the selective vulnerability of genes involved in placentation may also help prevent the vertical transmission of damaged DNA. However, the ultimate safeguard against this form of damage will be to understand the biochemical basis of oxidative stress in human spermatozoa, so that the underlying causative mechanisms can be addressed in a logical manner.


Author(s):  
I. A. Umnyagina ◽  
L. A. Strakhova ◽  
T. V. Blinova

In the blood serum of 70% individuals exposed to harmful factors of the working environment, a high level of oxidative stress and the DNA damage marker 8-Hydroxy-2’-Deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were detected.


2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 7191-7198 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Vance ◽  
Thomas E. Wilson

ABSTRACT In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases Apn1 and Apn2 act as alternative pathways for the removal of various 3′-terminal blocking lesions from DNA strand breaks and in the repair of abasic sites, which both result from oxidative DNA damage. Here we demonstrate that Tpp1, a homologue of the 3′ phosphatase domain of polynucleotide kinase, is a third member of this group of redundant 3′ processing enzymes. Unlike Apn1 and Apn2, Tpp1 is specific for the removal of 3′ phosphates at strand breaks and does not possess more general 3′ phosphodiesterase, exonuclease, or AP endonuclease activities. Deletion ofTPP1 in an apn1 apn2 mutant background dramatically increased the sensitivity of the double mutant to DNA damage caused by H2O2 and bleomycin but not to damage caused by methyl methanesulfonate. The triple mutant was also deficient in the repair of 3′ phosphate lesions left by Tdp1-mediated cleavage of camptothecin-stabilized Top1-DNA covalent complexes. Finally, the tpp1 apn1 apn2 triple mutation displayed synthetic lethality in combination with rad52, possibly implicating postreplication repair in the removal of unrepaired 3′-terminal lesions resulting from endogenous damage. Taken together, these results demonstrate a clear role for the lesion-specific enzyme, Tpp1, in the repair of a subset of DNA strand breaks.


Circulation ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 118 (suppl_18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Hofmann Bowman ◽  
Jeannine Wilk ◽  
Gene Kim ◽  
Yanmin Zhang ◽  
Jalees Rehman ◽  
...  

S100A12 is a small calcium binding protein that is a signal transduction ligand of the receptor for advance glycation endproducts (RAGE). S100A12, like RAGE, is expressed in the vessel wall of atherosclerotic vasculature, particularly in smooth muscle cells (SMC). While RAGE has been extensively implicated in inflammatory states such as atherosclerosis, the role of S100A12 is less clear. We tested the hypothesis that expression of human S100A12 directly exacerbates vascular inflammation. Several lines of Bl6/J transgenic mice (tg) expressing human S100A12 in SMC under control of the SM22a promoter were generated. Primary aortic SMC from tg and wild type (wt) littermates were isolated and analyzed for (i) proliferation using MTS/Formazan Assay and BrdU incorporation, (ii) oxidative stress using using flow cytometry with MitoSOX antibody, oxidative DNA damage using immunofluorescence microscopy with anti-8-oxo-dG antibody, and NF-kB activation measured by EMSA and (iii) cytokine expression measured by IL-6 ELISA. Furthermore, the aortas from tg and wt mice were examined. Results: Tg but not wt SMC expressed S100A12 protein. Tg SMC had a significant 1.9 to 2.7 fold increase in conversion of MTS into Formazan at 24–96 hours likely reflective of increased metabolic activity since BrdU incorporation into DNA was less in tg compared to wt SMC (4% vs 21% positive BrdU nuclei, p <0.05). Tg SMC showed significantly higher levels of mitochondrial generated ROS, nuclear staining for oxidative DNA damage which was not detected in the nuclei of wt SMC’s, and a 2.5 fold increase in NFkB activity. IL-6 production at baseline was higher in tg SMC’s (615 vs 213 pg/ml, p< 0.05) and increased dramatically after LPS treatment (10 ng/ml) in tg SMC’s (2130 vs 415 pg/ml). Histologic examination of the thoracic aorta at 10 weeks of age revealed increased collagen deposition in the aortic media with fragmentation and disarray of elastic fibers. In vivo ultrasound revealed a progressive dilation of the aortic arch from age 10 weeks to 16 weeks of age (1.27 to 1.60 mm, p<0.05) in tg but not in wt littermate mice (1.30 to 1.33 mm, p=0.1). These data reveal the novel finding that targeted expression of human S100A12 in SMC modulates oxidative stress, inflammation and vascular remodeling.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 961.1-961
Author(s):  
S Kim ◽  
P Cheresh ◽  
RP Jablonski ◽  
DW Kamp ◽  
M Eren ◽  
...  

RationaleConvincing evidence has emerged that impaired alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) injury and repair resulting from ‘exaggerated’ lung aging and mitochondrial dysfunction are critical determinants of the lung fibrogenic potential of toxic agents, including asbestos fibers, but the mechanisms underlying these findings is unknown. We showed that the extent of AEC mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage and apoptosis are critical determinants of asbestos-induced pulmonary fibrosis (Cheresh et al AJRCMB 2014, Kim et al JBC 2014). Klotho is an age-inhibiting gene and Klotho-deficient mice demonstrate a premature aging phenotype that includes a reduced lifespan, arteriosclerosis, and lung oxidative DNA damage, and that Klotho attenuates hyperoxic-induced AEC DNA damage and apoptosis (Ravikumar et al AJP-Lung 2014). We reason that Klotho has an important role in limiting pulmonary fibrosis by protecting the AECs from oxidative stress.MethodsQuantitative PCR-based measurement of mtDNA damage was assessed following transient transfection with wild-type Klotho, Klotho siRNA or AKT siRNA in A549 and/or MLE-12 cells for 48 hrs followed by exposure to either amosite asbestos (25 µg/cm2) or H2O2 (200 µM) for 24 hrs. Apoptosis was assessed by cleaved caspase-9/3 levels and DNA fragmentation assay. Murine pulmonary fibrosis was analyzed in male 8–10 week old WT (C3H/C57B6J) mice or Klotho heterozygous knockout (Kl+/−) mice following intratracheal instillation of a single dose of 100 µg crocidolite asbestos or titanium dioxide (negative control) using histology (fibrosis score by Masson's trichrome staining) and lung collagen (Sircoll assay).ResultsCompared to control, amosite asbestos or H2O2 reduces Klotho mRNA/protein expression. Notably, silencing of Klotho promotes oxidative stress-induced AEC mtDNA damage and apoptosis whereas Klotho-enforced expression (EE) and Euk-134, a mitochondrial ROS scavenger, are protective. Interestingly, Kl+/− mice have increased asbestos-induced lung fibrosis. Also, we find that inhibition or silencing of AKT augments oxidant-induced AEC mtDNA damage and apoptosis.ConclusionsOur data demonstrate a crucial role for AEC AKT signaling in mediating the mtDNA damage protective effects of Klotho. Given the importance of AEC aging and apoptosis in pulmonary fibrosis, we reason that Klotho/AKT axis is an innovative therapeutic target for preventing common lung diseases of aging (i.e. IPF, COPD, lung cancer, etc.) for which more effective management regimens are clearly needed.FundingNIH-RO1 ES020357-01A1 (DK) and VA Merit (DK).


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