Infertility in patients with a history of cryptorchidism is usually the result of oligo-asthenospermia. In this study we analyzed the incidence of antisperm antibodies in infertility patients with a history of cryptorchidism, general infertility patients and donors of known fertility. Of the cryptorchid patients 66% tested positive for antisperm antibodies compared to 2.6% of the control group of infertile patients and 2.8% of the donors of known fertility. Sperm progressive motility was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in the cryptorchid patients testing positive for antisperm antibodies compared to those testing negative for antisperm antibodies, and compared to both control groups. Of the patients treated for cryptorchidism by orchiopexy 52% were positive for antisperm antibodies, and the mean patient age at orchiopexy was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in the positive antibody group (14.2 +/- 1.2 years old) than the negative antibody group (8.6 +/- 0.8 years old). While decreased sperm concentration, motility and morphology are usually the primary causes of infertility in patients with a history of cryptorchidism, it appears that the presence of antisperm antibodies is also increased in these patients, which may contribute to reduced fertility.
Our results indicate that the physical presence of a varicicele is not always associated with an alteration in sperm cell concentration and that a reduction of semen characteristics is more likely in men with reduced sperm counts. Our study also indicates that a higher pregnancy rate after varicocele ligation occurred in wives of patients in the lower sperm count groups. Other forms of therapy also were found to be associated with pregnancy in wives of men with varicoceles. The post-surgical pregnancy rate was 25 per cent compared to 12 per cent in the non-surgical group.
Porcine relaxin has been reported to stimulate various human sperm functions. In this paper we report that human recombinant relaxin binds to human sperm with a high affinity (Kd = 6.5 x 10(-10)). The bound 125I-relaxin was not displaced by insulin, or human chorionic gonadotropin, however, it was displaced by unlabeled relaxin. In sperm function studies, recombinant human relaxin stimulated sperm motility, zona-free hamster egg penetration, and the acrosome reaction.
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