Table 1 Sperm chromatin damage assays

Single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet Assay)

Single and double-strand breaks, evaluates DNA integrity

[140-142, 152-154]

Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP- nick end labelling – TUNEL

DNA fragmentation, single and double-strand breaks

[22, 23, 80, 175, 183]

Acridine Orange Technique (AOT)

Distinguish between single and double stranded DNA

[144, 147, 148, 170, 184, 185]

Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay (SCSA)

Acid DNA denaturation

[145, 151]

In situ nick translation

Single-strand DNA breaks

[19, 143, 150]

Sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCD)

Determines the susceptibility of sperm DNA to acid denaturation

[163]

DNA diffusion assay

Alkali-labile sites in alkaline conditions yield low- molecular-weight DNA fragments

[164]

Acidic Aniline Blue

Stains lysine residues of persisting histones

[60, 166, 167, 169, 170]

Toluidine blue stain

DNA structure and chromatin packaging, incorporates in the damaged dense chromatin

[165, 185]

Chromomycin A₃ – CMA₃

Indirect visualization of nicked denatured DNA

[149, 171, 172]