Efficacy of alpha-lipoic acid combined with tamoxifen citrate in the treatment of oligoasthenospermia / 中华男科学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effect of alpha-lipoic acid (α-LA) combined with tamoxifen citrate (TC) in the treatment of oligoasthenospermia.@*METHODS@#From June to November 2016, we treated 60 patients with oligoasthenospermia in our Department of Andrology, 30 (the trial group) with oral α-LA (0.6 g, qd) + TC (20 mg, qd) and the other 30 (the control group) with oral L-carnitine (1g, bid) + TC (20 mg, qd). Before and after 3 months of medication, we examined the semen parameters of the patients and the levels of their seminal oxidative stress biomarkers, including methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the seminal plasma. We also compared the pregnancy rate and adverse reactions between the two groups.@*RESULTS@#Totally, 57 of the patients completed the treatment, 28 in the trial group and 29 in the control. Compared with the baseline, the patients of the trial group showed significant improvement after 3 months of medication in the semen volume (［2.50 ± 0.71］ vs ［3.37 ± 0.70］ ml, P 0.05) except in TAC, which was markedly more improved in the former than in the latter (P 0.05). After 3 months of treatment, 3 pregnancies were achieved in the trial group and 1 in the control (10.7% vs 3.45%, P >0.05). No obvious adverse events occurred during the treatment.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Alpha-lipoic acid combined with tamoxifen citrate can evidently improve semen parameters in oligoasthenospermia patients by relieving oxidative stress injury.

L-carnitine: safe and effective for asthenozoospermia / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>One of the important reasons for male infertility is asthenozoospermia, for which there is no specific cure for the time being. The authors explored the clinical effect of L-carnitine for infertile males with asthenozoospermia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 135 patients with asthenozoospermia were randomly divided into Groups A (n = 68) and B (n = 67), the former treated with L-carnitine (2 g/d) and vitamin E, while the latter with vitamin E only, both for 3 months. All the patients received semen analyses before and after the treatment, and were observed for adverse effects. The pregnancy rates of their wives were recorded.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Group A showed a significantly increased percentage of forward motile sperm after the treatment (45.4% +/- 11.1%) as compared with pretreatment (28.6% +/- 9.2%) (P < 0.01), but no statistically significant differences were found in sperm density and the percentage of the sperm of normal morphology (P > 0.05). The rate of pregnancy was significantly higher in Group A (31.1%) than in B (3.8%) after the treatment (P < 0.01). No adverse events were found during the treatment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>L-carnitine, capable of significantly improving sperm motility and raising the rate of pregnancy, is a safe and effective therapeutic option for asthenozoospermia.</p>