Correlation between the motility of frozen–thawed epididymal spermatozoa and the outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the outcome of ICSI was influenced by epididymal sperm motility in frozen-thawed specimens. A total of 18 ICSI treatment cycles using spermatozoa retrieved by microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA) were analysed retrospectively. Cryopreservation of epididymal spermatozoa was performed when enough epididymal aspirates were collected. Sixty-nine out of 126 oocytes injected with spermatozoa retrieved by MESA were fertilized, giving a fertilization rate of 54.8%. Out of 18 embryo transfer cycles, 6 (33.3%) achieved pregnancies. Fresh epididymal spermatozoa were used in 5 cycles while frozen-thawed epididymal spermatozoa were used in 13 cycles for ICSI. The fertilization rates were 68.6% (35/51) in the former group and 45.3% (34/75) in the latter group, respectively. There was a significant difference between the two groups (p < 0.05). In ICSI treatments using fresh epididymal spermatozoa, the cells used for injection were all motile. However, motile epididymal spermatozoa could be used in only five ICSI treatment cycles after freeze-thawing. In 6 cycles, only immotile sperm were used for injection of frozen-thawed spermatozoa. The fertilization rate in each group was 68.4% (13/19) and 31.6% (12/38), respectively. There was a significant difference between these groups (p < 0.01). These results indicate that the outcome of ICSI was influenced by sperm motility in frozen-thawed epididymal specimens. When no sperm motility could be recovered after freeze-thawing even with chemical treatments, consideration should be given to retrieving fresh epididymal spermatozoa again to achieve a better fertilization rate in such patients.

Birth after intracytoplasmic sperm injection with use of testicular sperm from men with Kartagener or immotile cilia syndrome

“…IVF may be a suitable treatment for certain variants of immotile cilia syndrome (4). The major problem with the use of immotile sperm for ICSI has been differentiating between live and dead sperm (17). The hypo-osmotic swelling test was used for the identification of viable spermatozoa in the pool of immotile spermatozoa for ICSI (18,19).…”

Human Sperm Cryopreservation: Update on Techniques, Effect on DNA Integrity, and Implications for ART

“…Sukcharoen and colleagues [63] performed a total of 53 ICSI cycles with fresh (40 cycles) and thawed (13 cycles) epididymal spermatozoa and came to the same conclusion; also Cayan and colleagues [64] supported the same opinion. In opposition Shibahara and colleagues [65] stated that there was a significant difference in all reproductive parameters examined between ICSI cycles with fresh or cryopreserved epididymal spermatozoa, comparing ICSI cycles performed with fresh (5 cycles) and thawed (13 cycles) epididymal spermatozoa.…”

In vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection for male infertility

“…The outcome of ICSI is influenced by sperm motility of microsurgically retrieved fresh as well as frozen-thawed sperm[2348] and the maturity of sperm selected. [49] Significantly higher fertilization (77.0% vs. 29.3%) and pregnancy rates (44.3% vs. 20.0%) have been reported following the use of fresh motile vs. nonmotile sperm and cryopreserved motile vs. non-motile sperm (fertilization rates: 70.0% vs. 50.9%; pregnancy rates 33.9% vs. 27.3%) following TESE-ICSI[22] and MESA-ICSI (fertilization rates: 68.4% vs. 31.6%, respectively; P < 0.01)[48] suggesting that motile sperm are necessary for optimal fertilization and pregnancy outcomes.…”