Fig. 3

Cordycepin had no significant effects on sperm DNA fragmentation and ROS levels during sperm capacitation. (A) A sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) assay kit was used to test sperm DNA fragmentation. Sperm with halo widths larger than the diameter of the core were considered to show DNA integrity (DI). Sperm with halo widths less or equal to the core was considered to show DNA fragmentation (DF). (B) The percentage of DNA fragmentation was calculated by dividing the number of DF sperm by the total number of sperm. Data are presented as means ± standard deviation (SD; n = 3). *P < 0.05 (compared with the dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO] group). (C) Sperm ROS levels were detected using the fluorescent probe 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA). The first data were recorded before cordycepin was added and used for normalization. After adding cordycepin, the data were dynamically observed for 30 min at 3 min intervals during capacitating incubation. After capacitation for 3 h, the fluorescence signal was acquired once again. Data are presented as means ± standard deviation (SD; n = 3). *P < 0.05 (compared with the DMSO group)