The study of DNA integrity in somatic cells and spermatozoa by single cell gel electrophoresis with silver staining

In present work we studied DNA damage in human and bovine lymphocytes and spermatozoa by means of single cell gel electrophoresis followed by silver staining. The spontaneous frequency of DNA damage estimated manually in spermatozoa from healthy donors did not exceed 9% (on average -- 4.8 +/- 1.2%). The frequency of DNA damages in bull sperm after short (less than a year) and long period (more than 20 years) of cryopreservation was assessed as 3.1 +/- 0.9 and 4.3 +/- 0.5%, correspondingly. The comparative estimation of DNA damages in lymphocytes followed by silver staining is a valuable tool to estimate DNA damage in populations of somatic and reproductive cells.