[Establishment and application of the approach to detecting two biovars of Ureaplasma urealyticum in human semen].
OBJECTIVE
To establish the approach to detecting two biovars of Ureaplasma urealyticum (Uu) in human semen and to investigate the relationship between the two biovars of Uu infection and the quality of human semen.


METHODS
Based on the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region, three pairs of primers were designed, the species specific primer and two biovars primers (Parvo primer and T960 primer). The two biovars of Uu were detected in the semen from 949 men by semen culture and PCR assay. Meanwhile, semen routine analyses were performed.


RESULTS
In the 949 subjects, 199 were Uu positive both in Uu liquid culture and PCR assay (199/949, 21.1%), of which 136 (136/199, 68.3%) were Parvo biovar, 54 (54/199, 27.1%) T960 biovar, and 9 (9/199, 4.5%) both Parvo and T960 biovars. Compared with the Parvo and the negative groups, human sperm viability was significantly decreased (P < 0.05 ) in the Uu T960 infection group. The difference of sperm motility and density had no statistic significance.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant correlation has been found between Uu T960 biovar infection and human sperm viability
Lu
Mei-ge
MG
Department of Histology & Embryology, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China. lumiege@yahoo.com.cn
Shi
Jian-li
JL
Xu
Chen
C
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S / Q000235:genetics*; D012661:Semen / Q000382:microbiology*; D013081:Sperm Motility; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S