Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse. Some cases of male infertility are due to a specific cause whereas others are due to less obvious etiologies and results in less drastic changes in semen parameters. Arylsulfatase A, arylsulfatase B and alkaline proteinase have not been studied adequately in relation to male infertility.
OBJECTIVES:
To study the association between seminal plasma arylsulfatase A, arylsulfatase B and alkaline proteinase enzyme activities and semen parameters in different Iraqi male infertile patients.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
Sixty patients with male infertility were included in this study. The male patients were categorized according to their seminal fluid parameters to oligospermia (n=32), azoospermia (n=22) and asthenospermia (n=6). All results obtained were compared with age – matched healthy controls group consisting of 39 subjects. The experiments were carried out in the laboratories of the physiological chemistry department at the college of Medicine / Al – Nahrain University during the period from November 2004 to July 2006.
RESULTS:
arylsulfatase A and arylsulfatase B were significantly decreased in all infertility groups. Seminal plasma arylsulfatase A decreased 73.55% in oligospermia group, 75.14% in azoospermia group and 73.87% in asthenospermia group in relation to the normal fertile group. Seminal plasma arylsulfatase B decreased 72.78% in oligospermic patients, 22.34% in azoospermic patients and 44.82% in asthenospermic patients compared with the normal fertile group. On the contrary, seminal plasma alkaline proteinase increased 1.55, 1.86 and 2.11 fold in oligospermic, azoospermic and asthenospermic groups respectively from normal group.
CONCLUSION:
It is possible to use seminal plasma arylsulfatase A, arylsulfatase B and alkaline proteinase as fertility markers in the different male infertility types.