Received May 05, 2021
Accepted November 15, 2021

Objective: Morphine is one of the major psychoactive chemicals in opium that can increase the production of free radicals and thus can negatively affect spermatogenesis. The purpose of this survey was to demonstrate the effect of morphine consumption on sperm parameters, DNA integrity and apoptosis in men taking morphine. Methods: In this case-control study, 30 man abusing morphine (cases) and 30 healthy men (controls) were compared for sperm parameters (count, motility and morphology) and sperm chromatin quality, with Aniline Blue (AB), Toluidine blue (TB) and Chromomycin A3 (CMA3) stainings. The participants were matched for age, weight, amount and duration of cigarette smoking. Results: In men with morphine dependency, sperm progressive and total motility (p=0.038 and p=0.000 respectively) showed a significant decrease compared to the control group. Concerning morphine abusing, although morphine can decrease the sperm chromatin condensation and increases the rate of sperm apoptosis, these differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: according to our result morphine dependence can reduce male fertility by affecting sperm parameters and also it may affect sperm chromatin/DNA integrity.