Objective: To determine whether varied human spermatozoa, as detected with monoclonal antibodies against acrosomal proteins, have an influence on fertilization, transfer, pregnancy, and implantation rates when intracytoplasmic sperm injection is used.
Design: A retrospective study.
Setting: A private IVF center and academic research laboratory.
Patient(s): One thousand two hundred forty men participating in the intracytoplasmic sperm injection program.
Intervention(s): Sperm were divided into seven groups: oligozoospermia, oligoasthenozoospermia, and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia and fresh and frozen-thawed epididymal and fresh and frozen-thawed testicular sperm. Fertilization, transfer, pregnancy, and implantation rates were recorded in each category. Sperm were tested with antibodies for detection of the of the sperm acrosome.
Main outcome measure(s): Fertilization, transfer, pregnancy and implantation rates, and percentage of acrosome-reacted cells.
Result(s): The fertilization rate and statistical evaluation showed differences between morphologically normal and pathological sperm and other groups. The freezing-thawing procedure had no influence on the fertilization of testicular sperm, but epididymal frozen-thawed sperm had a higher fertilization rate. Immunofluorescence proved decreasing sperm quality in all groups compared with the control group. This difference is not manifested in other parameters (transfer, pregnancy, implantation rates).
Conclusion(s): The spermatozoa with varied semen characteristics and good quality, also detected with specific antibodies, gave the best fertilization rates. The paternal effect is not proved in other parameters.