Effect of chronic sleep deprivation on acrosomal integrity and functional parameters of murine sperm

To evaluate the effect of chronic sleep deprivation on sperm function quality in mice.Experimental study.Not applicable.Spermatozoa from twenty-four 10-week-old C57BL/6J male mice.The sleep deprivation group underwent gentle handling for 6 hours for 5 consecutive days. The mice in the sleep recovery group were allowed to sleep during the 24-hour period after the sleep deprivation protocol.After euthanasia, the spermatozoa were collected for analysis. Sperm motility was evaluated using computer-assisted sperm analyzer. Intracellular superoxide anion (O2-) activity, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity, and DNA fragmentation assays were conducted afterward.Sleep deprivation and sleep recovery groups presented a lower percentage of spermatozoa with an intact acrosome, compared with the respective control groups. Regarding DNA fragmentation, a decreased proportion of spermatozoa with Comet I class intact DNA was observed in the sleep recovery group, compared with the recovery control group. Beat cross frequency was increased in the sleep recovery group.Sleep deprivation can reduce sperm quality, impairing acrosome integrity. Sleep recovery decreased DNA integrity and increased beat cross frequency.