Correlation between progesterone binding sites on human spermatozoa and in vitro fertilization outcome.
We investigated whether the expression of progesterone-binding sites on human sperm acrozomal membrane is correlated with in vitro fertilization outcome. In motile sperm we evaluated percentage of progesterone-binding sperm (%PB) and of acrozome-reacted sperm (%AR), collected from 39 male partners undergoing an in vitro fertilization program (IVF), by labeling the sperm with progesterone-conjugated BSA-labeled FITC (P-BSA-FITC) and pisum sativum agglutinin labeled-FITC (PSA-FITC). Mean %PB in 30 fertilized cases was significantly higher than that in 9 fertilization failures (9.0 +/- 5.1 vs. 22.3 +/- 14.8%, p < 0.01). Furthermore, %PB shows a strong positive correlation with fertilization rate in IVF (r = 0.44) and %AR (r = 0.62), but not with sperm concentration and sperm motility. These results suggest that the expression of progesterone receptor on the sperm was related to the sperm fertilizability, and the evaluation of %PB was useful for predicting the fertilization outcome of IVF.
Fukui
K
K
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ehime University, School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan. fukui@m.ehime-u.ac.jp
Hori
R
R
Yoshimoto
I
I
Ochi
H
H
Ito
M
M
D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011374:Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D011374:Progesterone