Status of vitamin E and reduced glutathione in semen of oligozoospermic and azoospermic patients

Aim:To investigate the status of seminal plasma reduced glutathione(GSH)and vitamin E in three different condi-tions of spermatogenesis:azoospermia,oligozoospermia and nonnospennia.Methods:Reduced glutathione wasmeasured in the seminal plasma by the method of Moron et al(1979),and vitamin E estimation was performed by themethod of Taylor et al(1976).Results:Vitamin E levels in seminal plasma of oligospermic and azoospennic sam-ples were significantly decreased to 65.54%and 66.04%respectively as compared to the normospermic group.Levelsof reduced glutathione were also significantly decreased in oligospermic and azoospennic group,and the reduction inazoospermic group(76.73%)was more pronounced than oligozoospermic group(62.07%).Conclusion.The de-crease in reduced glutathione,an endogenous antioxidant,levels in azoospermic and oligozoospermic conditions maycause dismption in the membrane integrity of spermatozoa as a consequence of increased oxidative stress.