Diagnosis and treatment of immunologically infertile women with sperm-immobilizing antibodies in their sera

The autoimmune bases of infertility and pregnancy loss

“…These autoantibodies are found in approximately 10% of infertile couples [20] and may follow specific conditions such as the obstruction of the vas deferens [21], varicocele, mumps orchitis, and spinal cord injury [21] but are found in 40% of men with SLE, albeit with limited sperm abnormalities [22]. Conversely, secondary autoimmune orchitis is represented by testicular vasculitis associated with systemic autoimmune diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, Behçet's disease, purpura, and rheumatoid arthritis.…”

Intrauterine Insemination: Fundamentals Revisited

“…IUI may be contraindicated in women with sperm-immobilizing antibodies owing to antibodies secreted in the female reproductive tract that might impair sperm passage, inhibit fertilization, and prevent normal post-fertilization processes [18]. The total antral follicle number is reported to decrease with age.…”

“…This study involved 191 AIH-IUI cycles with the same ovulation induction protocol. After Percoll density gradient centrifugation, they divided the sperm into four groups based on the incubation time: 0-19, 20-39, 40-59, and 60-80 min, and again into another four groups according to the total progressively motile sperm count (TPMC): (0-9), (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and [ 30 9 10 6 . They analyzed the correlation of the clinical pregnancy rate with the time interval from the end of sperm processing to AIH-IUI and with other influencing factors, such as maternal age, infertility duration, and semen quality.…”

Definitions and Epidemiology of Unexplained Male Infertility

“…Prefertilization effects from ASA include sperm agglutination, sperm cytotoxicity, poor cervical penetration, acrosome reaction, and poor oocyte binding [28,29]. Sperm agglutination can impair motility and cervical penetration and is higher in patients with the presence of ASA [30,31].…”