Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on October 19, 2006
Human Reproduction 2007 22(1):180-187; doi:10.1093/humrep/del338
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The effects of male age on sperm DNA damage in healthy non-smokers
1 Biosciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore 2 School of Public Health, University of California in Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA and 3 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
4 Present address: Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
5 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. E-mail: ajwyrobek{at}lbl.gov
BACKGROUND: The trend for men to have children at older age raises concerns that advancing age may increase the production of genetically defective sperm, increasing the risks of transmitting germ-line mutations. METHODS: We investigated the associations between male age and sperm DNA damage and the influence of several lifestyle factors in a healthy non-clinical group of 80 non-smokers (mean age: 46.4 years, range: 22–80 years) with no known fertility problems using the sperm Comet analyses. RESULTS: The average percentage of DNA that migrated out of the sperm nucleus under alkaline electrophoresis increased with age (0.18% per year, P = 0.006), but there was no age association for damage measured under neutral conditions (P = 0.7). Men who consumed >3 cups coffee per day had 
20% higher percentage tail DNA under neutral but not alkaline conditions compared with men who consumed no caffeine (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that (i) older men have increased sperm DNA damage associated with alkali-labile sites or single-strand DNA breaks and (ii) independent of age, men with substantial daily caffeine consumption have increased sperm DNA damage associated with double-strand DNA breaks. DNA damage in sperm can be converted to chromosomal aberrations and gene mutations after fertilization, increasing the risks of developmental defects and genetic diseases among offspring.
Key words: ageing/caffeine/Comet/DNA damage/sperm
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