Mammalian sperm DNA susceptibility to in situ denaturation associated with the presence of DNA strand breaks as measured by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase assay

Sperm from four mammalian species were analyzed by the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase assay (TdTA) using flow cytometry. The SCSA quantitates the susceptibility of sperm nuclear DNA to in situ acid denaturation, while the TdTA quantitates the presence of endogenous DNA strand breaks in sperm nuclear chromatin. Correlations were seen between the percentage of sperm cells showing susceptibility to in situ acid denaturation and the percentage of cells showing the presence of DNA strand breaks for humans (r = 0.56, P = 0.004), rams (r = 0.84, P < 0.001), bulls (r= 0.78, P < 0.001), and stallions (r = 0.65, P < 0.001). No significant differences were seen when using fresh or frozen samples for either assay. These results suggest that sperm cells that are more susceptible to in situ DNA denaturation may have a greater number of accessible endogenous DNA strand breaks. We hypothesize that the DNA strand breaks produced in the normal transition from a somatic cell histone complex to a protamine complex are not ligated properly, resulting in residual DNA strand breaks and altered chromatin structure. Alternatively, altered chromatin structure could lead to the accessibility of the endogenous DNA strand breaks.