Determination of sperm acrosin activity for evaluation of male fertility.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate a simple method for assaying acrosin activity for the evaluation of male fertility.


METHODS
The acrosin activity of 7.5 x 10(6) sperm without seminal plasma and acrosin activity inhibitors was assayed using N-alpha-benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA) and detergent (Triton X-100) as substrate.


RESULTS
The acrosin activity of 60 normal fertile men (35 +/- 10 microIU/10(6) sperm ) was higher than that of 168 infertile men (16 +/- 8 microIU/10(6) sperm) (P < 0. 01). It was indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between the acrosin activity and the sperm motility (r > or = 0.6534, P < 0.01) and a significant negative correlation between the sperm malformed rate and the WBC number (r < or = -0.5426, P < 0.01). The temperature and time of incubation and the sperm concentration could influence the assay results.


CONCLUSIONS
Acrosin activity is an important index for the evaluation of male fertility. The approach developed by the authors is a simple method for the determination of acrosin activity.
Jining Medical College, China. cuiyunhe@ji-public.sd.cnifo.net
Y H
YH
Cui
R L
RL
Zhao
Q
Q
Wang
Z Y
ZY
Zhang
D000176:Acrosin / Q000032:analysis*; D000328:Adult; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013094:Spermatozoa
D000176:Acrosin