This work aimed at investigating the effect of resveratrol on (1) DNA integrity 
and (2) fertilizing capacity of sperm by quantifying the presence of key 
paternal transcripts considered as markers for male fertility (protamine 1 
[PRM1] and protamine 2 [PRM2]) and pregnancy success (adducin 1 alpha [ADD1]) in 
cryopreserved human spermatozoa through modulation of AMP-activated protein 
kinase (AMPK). The study populations was drawn from 22 normozoospermic healthy 
volunteers which were incubated with or without AMPK activator (resveratrol 
[RSV], 15 µM) or inhibitor (Compound C [CC], 30 µM) for 1 h and were then 
cryopreserved. Untreated frozen-thawed spermatozoa served as controls. The 
RSV-induced AMPK activation decreased the level of DNA fragmentation in 
comparison with the control (21.18 ± 0.92 vs. 22.50 ± 0.40; p < 0.01). The 
relative mRNA expression levels of protamines (1 and 2) and ADD1 in RSV 
pretreated frozen-thawed human spermatozoa were also improved significantly 
compared to the control (p < 0.05). Conversely, the inhibitory effect of CC on 
AMPK activity deteriorated the deleterious effects of cryopreservation on these 
parameters (p < 0.01). In conclusion, these results demonstrated the 
cryoprotective effect of the RSV-induced increase in AMPK activity on DNA 
integrity and key paternal transcripts of cryopreserved human spermatozoa. These 
findings are of great importance for improving the available cryopreservation 
protocols in terms of the number of lesions that produced over key genes and the 
dramatic effects on sperm DNA fragmentation.