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

Lee, Sang Hee; Kang, Jae Seong; Lee, Yong Ho; Kim, Sun Haeng; Park, Seok Jin; Kim, Hyun Sook; Kim, Tak; Ku, Pyung Sahm

Abstract

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.