{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T09:13:26Z","timestamp":1788599606132,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779408000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["lww.com","ovid.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Sperm quality influences fertility and offspring health through both genomic inheritance and epigenetic inheritance. Thus, for use in clinical-assisted reproductive technology (ART), spermatozoa must have optimal genomic and epigenetic structures. In patients with retrograde ejaculation, spermatozoa are usually recovered from urine and then cryopreserved for ART. However, the effects of urine exposure and subsequent freeze\u2013thaw cycles on sperm quality remain unclear. This is particularly true for epigenetic changes and their underlying mechanisms. In this study, we examined how different durations of urine exposure (10 min and 40 min) followed by freeze\u2013thaw cycles affected sperm motility, DNA integrity, and methylation levels of imprinting genes (H19-imprinted maternally expressed transcript [\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">H19<\/jats:italic>\n                    ], mesoderm-specific transcript [\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">MEST<\/jats:italic>\n                    ], and the transposable element Alu [\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Alu<\/jats:italic>\n                    ]). As the duration of urine exposure increased, sperm motility (median [interquartile range]) decreased from 48.0% (39.0%\u221252.5%) to 1.0% (1.0%\u22125.0%), the DNA fragmentation index (DFI; median [interquartile range]) increased from 12.0% (9.3%\u221219.9%) to 23.5% (13.9%\u221233.9%), the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">MEST<\/jats:italic>\n                    methylation level (mean \u00b1 standard deviation [s.d.]) increased from 3.8% \u00b1 1.5% to 11.5 \u00b1 1.2%, and the\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">H19<\/jats:italic>\n                    methylation level (mean \u00b1 s.d.) decreased from 86.9% \u00b1 0.9% to 82.1% \u00b1 0.5%. The freeze\u2013thaw process further reduced sperm motility, while the DFI and methylation levels of\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">MEST<\/jats:italic>\n                    and\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">H19<\/jats:italic>\n                    did not significantly change. The\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Alu<\/jats:italic>\n                    methylation level remained stable. These findings demonstrate that urine exposure affects sperm motility, DNA integrity, and methylation levels of some imprinting genes. These effects intensify over time. In contrast, the freeze\u2013thaw process impacts only sperm motility. In clinical practice, minimizing exposure to urine might improve sperm quality.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4103\/aja20265","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T08:00:15Z","timestamp":1779436815000},"page":"628-633","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/lww.0000000000001000","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Combined effects of urine exposure and cryopreservation on sperm quality: an in vitro study of retrograde ejaculation"],"prefix":"10.4103","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Ming-Jie","family":"Liang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qian-Yi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tao","family":"Pang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Department of Clinical Laboratory, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Andrology, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qi-Ling","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying-Yi","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jia-Ming","family":"Zhuang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NHC Key Laboratory of Male Reproduction and Genetics, Guangzhou 510600, China"},{"name":"Human Sperm Bank of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Provincial Reproductive Science Institute, Guangdong Provincial Fertility Hospital, Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"276","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"R1-20260905","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.humrep.a138513","article-title":"Retrograde ejaculation","volume":"9","author":"Yavetz","year":"1994","journal-title":"Hum 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