ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2026
Sperm storage causes sperm senescence in human and non-human animals.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sperm storage causes sperm senescence in human and non-human animals.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2026Article
- Association of sperm DNA fragmentation with abstinence duration, seminal oxidative stress and age: a call to consider abstinence in andrological diagnostics.Frontiers in urology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In animals, mature sperm are stored in males before ejaculation and sometimes in females before fertilization. Sperm storage provides evolutionary advantages; however, storage can also cause sperm deterioration owing to post-meiotic sperm senescence (PMSS). Yet, the extent of such deterioration, the mechanisms driving it and its fitness consequences remain poorly understood. We perform a meta-analysis across human (115 studies) and non-human animals (56 studies, 30 species) to understand the impacts of in vivo sperm storage. In men, we find that storage via sexual abstinence increases sperm oxidative stress and DNA damage, while reducing sperm viability and motility. In non-human animals, sperm storage in males or females reduces sperm performance, including fertilization success and embryo quality. In men, the method used for sampling individuals-and in other animals, the sex-specific duration of storage-modulates observed outcomes. Our results highlight the mechanisms of sperm deterioration during storage and its consequences for pre- and post-fertilization outcomes. These have important implications for fertility clinics, sperm selection, captive breeding and understanding evolved adaptations that mitigate stored-sperm deterioration. Importantly, our results can help to optimize the timing of ejaculate collection and storage.
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Registered trials
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.