Chlamydia trachomatis infection among asymptomatic males in an infertility clinic.

Chlamydia trachomatis can lead to a variety of complications including tubal infertility. Similarly asymptomatic infection in male partner can also hinder conception. The prevalence of this infection among the infertile female in the Institute's Infertility Clinic was observed to be 34%. Hence the present study was undertaken to find out these infection among the asymptomatic male partners of these infected women. Fifteen asymptomatic males who were not treated with any antibiotics in recent past were enrolled. First voided urine, semen and blood were collected from each individual for diagnosis of this infection. Chlamydia antigen was detected in 33.3% while Chlamydia antibody was detected in seven (46.7%) of these cases. Of these seven, three cases were positive for antigen. This preliminary observation suggests that amongst the infertile couple a sizable percentage (60%) of asymptomatic male partners remain infected with Chlamydia trachomatis.

Integrin cell adhesion molecules in endometrium of fertile and infertile women throughout menstrual cycle.

Integrins (ITGs) are ubiquitous cell adhesion molecules that undergo dynamic alterations during the normal menstrual cycle in human endometrium. The distribution of four different subunits, viz. alpha 4, alpha 6, beta 3 and beta 4 in human endometrial tissue at different stages of the menstrual cycle was studied using immunohistochemical, enzyme immunoassay and SDS-PAGE/Western blot techniques. The specificity of each mAb to their respective ligands viz., laminin (Ln), fibronectin (Fn) and vitronectin (Vn) was done by cell adhesion assays. Both alpha 6 and beta 4 subunits (Ln receptors) expressed primarily on the glandular epithelium, while glandular, stromal and luminal cells expressed predominantly alpha 4 (Fn receptor) and beta 3 (Vn receptor). The appearance of alpha 4 and beta 3 ITG subunits was found to be cell and cycle specific. The levels of both alpha 6 and beta 4 increased throughout the menstrual cycle, while beta 3 subunit appeared abruptly on cycle day 19/20. The immunostaining for alpha 4 and beta 3 was absent in 90% of infertile women. The timing of expression of alpha 4 and beta 3, the two cycle--dependent ITGs framed the putative window of implantation and suggests a role in the diagnosis of infertility. In conclusion, the absence of alpha 4 and beta 3 ITG expression in the endometrium of infertility subjects during mid luteal phase may be associated with defects in uterine function. The defective uterine receptivity may be an unrecognised cause of infertility in these group of women.

Integrin cell adhesion molecules on human spermatozoa.

The expression of integrin cell adhesion molecules (ITG-CAMs) by human ejaculated spermatozoa (fresh, capacitated and acrosome reacted) was evaluated by immunocytochemical, immunofluorescence and cell-ELIS methods, using monoclonal antibodies against alpha-6 and beta-3 subunits. Both the subunits were expressed on the acrosome region in fresh spermatozoa and post acrosomal region after acrosome reaction induced by calcium ionophore. The spermatozoa of the fertile men showed significantly (P < 0.001) higher expression of alpha-6 and beta-3 ITG subunits than the subfertile men. The percentage of spermatozoa reacting with alpha-6 and beta-3 mAbs increased significantly after the loss of acrosome when compared with fresh spermatozoa. Moreover, 35-40% of spermatozoa with normal shape and none of the spermatozoa with pathological shape showed a positive reaction. The quantitative analysis carried out by ELISA suggests that the levels of these ITG subunits decreased significantly (P < 0.001) in the subfertile subjects when compared with the fertile and the difference was more for alpha-6 than the beta-3. Hence our result suggests that alpha-6 subunit may be used as a clinical marker to evaluate the sperm quality in men.

Resazurin reduction test to evaluate semen quality.

The resazurin test (REZ TEST) was performed on semen samples obtained from 75 untreated subfertile and 10 pregnancy confirmed fertile males. The results were compared with other sperm parameters to assess the quality of semen. The highest correlation of REZ grade was with motile sperm (r = 0.90, P < 0.001), sperm viability (r = 0.80, P < 0.001) and sperm concentration (r = 0.71, P < 0.001). The REZ grade indicated significant difference in the rate of positive tests between samples from fertile males and patients exhibiting abnormal semen parameters. The RES TEST had a positive predictive value of 93.75% for a progressives motile sperm concentration of > 20 x 106/ml and a negative predictive power of 88.7% for the same variable at a criterion value of 10 x 106/ml. It is suggested that REZ TEST can be performed with a relatively small volume of semen, it is easy to perform and requires no technical equipments.