Type 1 Diabetes Causes DNA Damage in Sperm

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted May 3, 2007 in DNA and Disease

Men with type 1 diabetes may experience higher rates of infertility because their sperm suffers from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage. In a small study of 27 diabetic and 29 non-diabetic men published in Human Reproduction,

• Nuclear DNA fragmentation was significantly higher in diabetic men - 53% vs 32%.
• Median number of mtDNA deletions was also higher - 4 vs 3.

Similar findings have been observed in men with type 2 diabetes.

Co-author Professor Sheena Lewis said:

There are three things we need to look at - the number of men with diabetes and fertility problems, we need to look at children of diabetic fathers to see if there is an impact on their health and we need to find the exact nature of the DNA damage.

Another question would be if DNA damage in sperm caused by diabetes should be of any greater or equal concern as mutations caused by environmental chemical exposure, smoking, substance abuse, nutritional imbalance, obesity, and other health conditions.

Tags: diabetes, men, fertility, infertility, sperm, genetics, genes, genome, genomics, dna, diseases, illness, health, medicine, reproduction

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2007-05-04 02:59:31

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