The Effects of Sperm Motility Stimulants on the Hyperactivation, Acrosomal Reaction of Sperm and their in vitro Fertilization / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of sperm motility stimulants on the hyperactivation (HA), acrosomal reaction (AR) and sperm penetration assay (SPA) in fresh and frozen-thawed spermatozoa from fertile men. METHODS: We treated the semen samples obtained from 20 normospermic men (fresh semens from 10 and cryopreserved ones from 10) with pentoxiphylline (PF) and 2-deoxyadenosine (2-DXA) to evaluate the change of the patterns of motility using the computerized motility analyzer. The semen samples treated with motility stimulants were incubated in the medium with calcium ionophore A23187 for the examination of the proportion of acrosome lost spermatozoa. Finally we performed SPA in both groups for the evaluation of fertilizing capacity after stimulant treatments. RESULTS: In both fresh and cryopreserved semen samples, the addition of PF and 2-DXA significantly altered the patterns of motility (ALH, VCL, HA) known to have association with sperm quality without increasing the number of sperms with progressive motility and velocity. A23187 induced AR was also augmented by the treatment with PF and 2-DZA. Although the treatment with PF did not increase the mean rates of egg penetration significantly, in selected cases in the cryopreserved semen group, the improvement of the motility pattern was impressive. CONCLUSION: PF and 2-DXA can improve the quality of sperm function in both fresh and frozen-thawed semen from normal fertile men and may increase the sperm penetration rate of zona-free hamster eggs in selected samples of the frozen-thawed semen. The results suggest that PF and 2-DXA pretreatment can be used in the clinical practice for intrauterine insemination (IUI) program with frozen-thawed sperms as well as with samples from men with abnormal semen parameters. In addition, it may be a cost- effective therapy to try IUI combined with such a pretreatment for the couples planned to enter into the ART program.

Immunohistochemical Localization of Prolactin in Normal and Neoplastic Uterine Cervical Tissues / 대한부인종양콜포스코피학회잡지

Prolactin is elevated in the serum of patients with cervical carcimomas. It is suggested that such edtopically secreteted prolactin may be a potential marker for detecting early occult tumors or gauging the effectiveness of therapy for human cervicla carcinoma. We have immunohistochemical study to investigate the presence or absence of prolactin in 16 cases of nrmal cervical tissues and 26 cases of neoplastic formalin fixed cervical tissues. The results were as follows. 1. All cases of 10 normal uterine cervical tissues and all cases of 5 squamous metaplasia of the cervix revealed positive reaction to prolactin antisera. 2. One case of four moderate dyplasia of the cervix revealed positive reacion to prolactin antisera. 3. One case of five squamous cell carcinoma in situof the cervix revealed positive reaction to prolactin antisera. 4. All cases of 10 keratinizing sqyamous cell carcinoma of the cervix revealed positive reaction to prolactin antisera, but only 1 case non-keratinizing sqyamous cell carcinoma of the cervix revealed positive reaction to prolactin antisera. The results are suggested that prolactin may play a some role in the developement and growth of the cervical carcinoma. But further stydy of the biologic actions of prolactin in many cervical tissues is warranted.