Short and long term effects of different doses of paracetamol on sperm parameters and DNA integrity in mice

The aim was to survey the impact of normal and high doses of paracetamol consumption on sperm parameters and DNA integrity in mice. A total of 36 adult male mice were divided into three groups: mice of group A served as control fed on basal diet, group B received normal dosage of Paracetamol (66 mg kg/day) and basal diet, group C received high dosage of Paracetamol (100 mg kg/day) and basal diet for 35, 70 and 105 days. The cauda epididymitis of each mouse was dissected and placed in 1 ml of pre-warm Ham's F10 culture medium for 20 min. The swim-out spermatozoa were analyzed for count, motility, morphology and viability. Sperm chromatin quality was evaluated by chromomycin A3 staining (CMA3), aniline blue staining and sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD). The results showed that almost all of the sperm parameters significantly decrease following consumption of normal and high dosage of Paracetamol in three periods of experiments in mice (p < 0.05). Regarding to SCD test, we found a highly significant difference only in dose effect, but in CMA3 test and aniline blue staining there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in both dose and time effects. According to our results, paracetamol as an analgesic and antipyretic may have detrimental effects on sperm parameters and DNA integrity in mice.