Table 2.

Correlation analysis for epididymal rat spermatozoa subjected to mechanical stress

	Intact plasma membrane (%)	MMP (%)		Intracellular ROS in viable spermatozoa
		Total spermatozoa with high MMP	Viable spermatozoa with high MMP	Basal ROS	Stimulated ROS	Rate of ROS generation
Total motility (%)	0.829**	0.809**	0.808**	0.118	−0.360*	−0.340*
Intact plasma membrane (%)		0.809**	0.810**	−0.044	−0.308*	−0.227
Total spermatozoa with high MMP (%)			0.992**	−0.162	−0.133	0.123
Viable spermatozoa with high MMP (%)				−0.151	−0.099	0.144
Basal ROS/viable spermatozoa					0.316*	−0.333*
Stimulated ROS/viable spermatozoa						0.726**

Data are either Pearson or Spearman’s rho correlations, depending on whether the data were normally distributed. The r-values indicate the strength and direction (+/−) of the correlation.

^*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed);

^**correlation is significant at the 0.005 level (two-tailed).

MMP, mitochondrial membrane potential; ROS, reactive oxygen species