OXIDATIVE STRESS AND INTERLEUKINS IN SEMINAL PLASMA DURING LEUKOCYTOSPERMIA

Objective: To quantify the levels of reactive oxygen species, superoxi de dismutase (SOD), and interleukins (IL) 2 and 8 in seminal plasma of infertile patients as well as to examine the possible relationship be tween oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines. Design: Semen co llected from normal fertile donors, infertile men without symptoms of genitourinary (GU) inflammation, and infertile men with symptoms of in fection-inflammation of the GU tract was evaluated for the levels of g ranulocyte elastase, reactive oxygen species, SOD, IL-2, and IL-8. Any correlation between the levels of reactive oxygen species and other p arameters in these population was analyzed statistically. Results: Sig nificantly high levels of granulocyte elastase (18.32 +/- 1.52 U/L), r eactive oxygen species (6 x 10(5) cpm), IL-8 (3.7 +/- 0.10 mu g/L), an d IL-2 (18.96 +/- 1.47 ng/L) were observed in semen of infertile patie nts with leukocytospermia compared with the other two groups. In leuko cytospermic samples, the activity of SOD was significantly lower (624. 89 +/- 41.16 NU/mL) compared with nonleukocytospermic samples (787.85 +/- 24.26 NU/mL) or fertile donors (816.29 +/- 50.16 NU/mL). A signifi cant positive correlation was observed between the levels of reactive oxygen species and IL-8. Conclusions: These findings suggest that incr eased oxidative stress observed during leukocytospermia may modulate t he level of proinflammatory cytokines. The increased oxidative stress may be due to a defect in the reactive oxygen species scavenging syste m.