Histochemical evaluation of human sperm in assessment of male infertility

ABSTRACT

Eight to ten percent of couples experience some forms of infertility problem, in which male factors may account for up to 50%. In a great number of cases of male infertility caused by inadequate spermatogenesis or sperm defects, the origin of the problem still remains unexplained. Many methods and parameters are applied to evaluate the fertilizing capacity of the sperm using biochemistry, histochemistry, electron microscopy as well as sperm function tests, which are [or could be] put to a wide range of uses. To evaluate some sperm structures, by different histochemical reactions, aiming to predict the fertilizing capability of the human sperm. A total number of 68 men were included in this study 20, normal fertile control [had fathered children within 2 years] and 48 infertile men with no recognized cause of female infertility. Their age were ranged from 20 to 45 years old. All cases were collected from the outpatient clinic of Al-Hussein university hospital. A full medical history was taken. Fresh semen samples were prepared for slide examinations. The mean optical densities of the mucopolysaccharides and nucleic acid contents were assessed both for sperm head and midpiece. In this study there was highly statistical significant decrease in the mean optical densities of the mucopolysaccharides contents in all infertile groups [p<0.01]; both in sperm head and midpiece, except in midpiece of asthenotratozoospermic and teratozoospermic groups show no statistical significance, when compared with the values of control fertile group. Also, there was highly significant decrease in the mean optical densities of the nucleic acid contents in all infertile groups, both in sperm head and midpiece in comparison with the control group. The routine semen analysis parameters considered not sufficient for case evaluation. This study opens the door widely for further investigations on the semen and sperm especially other enzymes and the effect of drug therapy on the histochemical pattern of sperm activity, histochemical evaluation of spermatic enzyme activities using image analyzer technique is a reliable method for diagnosis of unexplained male infertility