title: Pooled sequential ejaculates: a way to increase the total number of motile sperm from oligozoospermic men.
abstract: We investigated the yield of total number of motile spermatozoa from oligozoospermic men by pooling two closely spaced sequential ejaculates. Semen characteristics were compared between sequential ejaculates (within a period of 1 to 4 hours) of 18 oligozoospermic males (sperm concentration less than 20 X 10(6)/mL and total sperm count less than 40 X 10(6) in the ejaculate) and a control group of 16 normozoospermic men. Whereas the median total number of motile sperm of normozoospermic males significantly decreased from 70 X 10(6) in the first ejaculate to 23 X 10(6) in the second sequential ejaculate, such a decrease was not detected in oligozoospermic males, 3.6 X 10(6) and 3.1 X 10(6), respectively. The percent of normozoospermic and oligozoospermic men who demonstrated a decreased (less than 50%), a comparable (50% to 150%), or an increased (greater than 150%) total motile sperm count in the second ejaculate in comparison with the first ejaculate were 69%, 31%, and 0 versus 39%, 28%, and 33%, respectively. Consequently, pooling of two sequential ejaculates significantly increased the median total number of motile sperm from normozoospermic males by 144% and from oligozoospermic males by 329%, (to 10.2 X 10(6]. We suggest that pooling of two sequential ejaculates from oligozoospermic males is a simple and cost effective method to increase significantly the total number of motile sperm for intrauterine insemination, in vitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian transfer, or semen cryopreservation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60608.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tur-Kaspa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dudkiewicz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Confino
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gleicher
mesh_terms: D001826:Body Fluids / Q000502:physiology; D004542:Ejaculation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013076:Sperm Count / Q000379:methods*; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology