Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25999358›Full record

ReviewAsian journal of andrology

Are sperm capacitation and apoptosis the opposite ends of a continuum driven by oxidative stress?

Robert J Aitken, Mark A Baker, Brett Nixon

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Asian journal of andrology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
74citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
20.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

74 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 185 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Association between exposure to ambient air pollution and semen quality in adults: a meta-analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022
    Pooled it
  4. Pollutants and sperm quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021
    Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
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  19. Asian palmyra palm (Open veterinary journal · 2025
    Article
  20. Methods to Determine Oxidative Stress in Spermatozoa.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025
    Article

14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Robert J AitkenPriority Research Centre in Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences and Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia.
Mark A Baker
Brett Nixon
Hunter Medical Research Institute · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This chapter explores the possibility that capacitation and apoptosis are linked processes joined by their common dependence on the continued generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). According to this model capacitation is initiated in spematozoa following their release into the female reproductive tract as a consequence of intracellular ROS generation, which stimulates intracellular cAMP generation, inhibits tyrosine phosphatase activity and enhances the formation of oxysterols prior to their removal from the sperm surface by albumin. The continued generation of ROS by capacitating populations of spermatozoa eventually overwhelms the limited capacity of these cells to protect themselves from oxidative stress. As a result the over-capacitation of spermatozoa leads to a state of senescence and the activation of a truncated intrinsic apoptotic cascade characterized by enhanced mitochondrial ROS generation, lipid peroxidation, motility loss, caspase activation and phosphatidylserine externalization. The latter may be particularly important in instructing phagocytic leukocytes that the removal of senescent, moribund spermatozoa should be a silent process unaccompanied by the generation of proinflammatory cytokines. These observations reveal the central role played by redox chemistry in defining the life and death of spermatozoa. A knowledge of these mechanisms may help us to engineer novel solutions to both support and preserve the functionality of these highly specialized cells.

Indexed as

AnimalsApoptosisFemaleGerm CellsHumansMaleOxidative StressReactive Oxygen SpeciesSperm CapacitationReactive Oxygen Species

Identifiers

PMID25999358
PMCPMC4492056
OpenAlexW2142373053

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.