The researchers studied how the breakdown of fats in sperm membranes can affect male infertility. They looked at samples from infertile patients and fertile volunteers to see how a specific antioxidant affected sperm viability. They found that infertile patients had higher levels of fat breakdown in their sperm membranes, which led to lower sperm viability. This suggests that measuring this breakdown could help diagnose male infertility caused by sperm defects.