Metabolic fingerprinting of seminal plasma from non-obstructive azoospermia patients: Positive versus negative sperm retrieval

ABSTRACT

Background: Non-obstructive azoospermia [NOA] occurs in approximately 10% of infertile men. Retrieval of the spermatozoa from the testicle of NOA patients is an invasive approach. Seminal plasma is an excellent source for exploring to find the biomarkers for presence of spermatozoa in testicular tissue. The present discovery phase study aimed to use metabolic fingerprinting to detect spermatogenesis from seminal plasma in NOA patients as a non-invasive method: