Semen analysis

About: Semen analysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4909 publications have been published within this topic receiving 143225 citations.

Semen quality of industrial workers occupationally exposed to chromium.

Abstract: A total of sixty-one subjects occupationally exposed to chromium in an industry which manufactures chromium sulphate and fifteen control subjects from a nearby industry which does not manufacture any chromium related compounds were studied. The history of each subject was recorded on pre-designed form through interview and a routine medical examination was carried out. Blood samples (5-6 ml) were collected for the estimation of chromium and semen samples were collected for semen analysis and the determination of copper and zinc levels in the seminal plasma. Clinical examination revealed nasal perforation in 10 subjects (out of 61) in the exposed group as compared to none in the control group. A significantly higher level of chromium was observed in the blood of the exposed workers as compared to the control. The concentration of zinc in seminal plasma was lower while the level of copper was higher in the exposed group as compared to the control. However, these changes were not statistically significant. Statistically significant higher numbers of morphologically abnormal sperms were noticed in the exposed group with respect to the control. Further analysis of the data indicated that about 53% of the exposed subjects showed less than 30% normal forms as compared to 10% in control subjects. However, no significant alterations in semen volume, liquefaction time, mean pH value, sperm viability, concentration or motility, were noticed between chromium exposed and unexposed workers. The data also indicates that exposure to chromium has some effect on human sperm as a significant positive correlation (r=0.301) was observed between percentages of abnormal sperm morphology and blood chromium levels (p=0.016) after pooling all the data of the control and exposure groups.

Sperm separation in patients with urogenital infections

Abstract: A total of 196 patients attending the Center of Dermatology and Andrology, Giessen, Germany, were examined for fertility problems. Polymorphonuclear elastase, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the number of round and peroxidase-positive cells were investigated in addition to routine semen analysis. The ejaculates were also analysed before and after sperm separation by means of swim-up or glass wool filtration. In 20 cases of leukocytospermia, sperm concentration, motility, viability, production of reactive oxygen species, and the number of peroxidase-positive cells were evaluated before and after glass wool filtration. The results show that ROS production by viable spermatozoa is highly correlated with the concentration of PMN elastase and the number of both peroxidase-positive and round cells. Multiple regression analysis with motility as dependent parameter showed the number of round cells (n = 91; r = -0.332; P = 0.0030) to be the most important parameter affecting motility, while ROS mainly affects the viability of spermatozoa (n = 69; r = 0.250; P = 0.0107). In the case of leukocytospermia, glass wool filtration significantly reduced the number of peroxidase-positive cells and ROS production (P = 0.0098 and P = 0.0005, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for ROS production in the ejaculate using a concentration of 1.000 ng ml-1 PMN elastase as decisive parameter resulted in a cut-off value of 49,489.9 counts 10(-7) viable spermatozoa. The statistical parameters were: Sensitivity: 63.2%, specificity: 100%, positive predictive value: 100%, negative predictive value: 36.1%.