In situ use of pentoxifylline to assess sperm vitality in intracytoplasmic sperm injection for treatment of patients with total lack of sperm movement

Does in vitro application of pentoxifylline have beneficial effects in assisted male reproduction?

“…(Angelopoulos et al, 1999) 5 mmol/L PTX for 10-min incubation In cases with total lack of sperm motility, in situ use of PTX improved sperm assessment. (de Mendoza et al, 2000) 1 mg/ml (3.6 mmol/L) and 30-min incubation (37°C)…”

Diagnostic evaluation of the infertile male: a committee opinion

“…Viable non-motile sperm can also be identified by incubation in pentoxifylline. Viable sperm will develop motility after exposure to pentoxifylline (26).…”

Pharmacological stimulation of sperm motility in frozen and thawed testicular sperm using the dimethylxanthine theophylline

“…The most elegant strategy is the only one that allows for partial restoration of original motility (32), namely, the in situ use of methylxanthines, such as pentoxy-or theophylline.…”

“…Rather, they were used with some success to raise motility and, thus, increase outcome in patients with IUI (45) and previous fertilization failure after IVF (46)(47)(48)(49). Since ICSI has become a powerful alternative in such patients, total lack of sperm movement (32) or presence of immotile sperm in microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration and TESE patients (15,16) are the only indications being left for routine use of methylxanthines such as pentoxy-or theophylline. The latter has not been investigated in detail.…”

“…In the present study, the ready-to-use stock solution of theophylline (SpermMobil) was used at a 20-fold dilution, and duration of exposure was limited to a few minutes (without limiting its bioactivity). In addition, the selected testicular spermatozoa were washed thoroughly and transferred in theophylline-free medium and PVP as recommended elsewhere (32); thus, the theoretical risk of a biological hazard existing on female gametes and/or embryos is negligible.…”