Effects of 16O+6 ion irradiation on human sperm spontaneous chemiluminescence, motility, acrosome reaction and viability in vitro.

Effects of 16O+6 ion irradiation with different doses on human sperm spontaneous chemiluminescence (SCL), motility, acrosome reaction (AR) and viability were examined. Spermatozoa were irradiated with 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 Gy 16O+6 ion beam at the energy of 3.17 MeV/u. After irradiation, samples were analyzed by SCL measurement at 1, 2 and 3 h of incubation; motility was determined by the transmembrane migration method within 2 h of incubation; the percentage of AR and viability was evaluated by the triple-stain technique at 3.5 h of incubation. The results showed: sperm SCL was significantly increased with irradiation doses and the lowest effective dose was 0.5 Gy; compared with controls, the transmembrane migration ratio of spermatozoa progressively elevated with irradiation doses at 0.5, 1, and 2 Gy; the percentage of sperm AR markedly increased in 0.5-4 Gy irradiation and the optimal dose was 2 Gy, and then significant decreased with further increase of irradiation doses; the viability had no significant change within 0.25-8 Gy, but was progressively decreased at 16, 32 and 64 Gy. These data suggested that heavy ion at low doses increased motility and AR, whereas had deleterious effects at higher doses, which are associated with free radical reactions induced by heavy ion irradiation.