[Determination of plasma homocysteine in oligospermia and/or asthenospermia patients].
OBJECTIVE
To detect the level of fasting plasma homocysteine (Hcy) in patients with oligospermia and/or asthenospermia and to investigate its clinical significance.


METHODS
Semen quality analyses and fasting plasma Hcy determination were performed for 86 infertility patients (21 with oligospermia, 32 with asthenospermia and 33 with oligo-asthenospermia) and 19 normal fertile volunteers. The results were compared.


RESULTS
The level of plasma Hcy was significantly higher in the infertility patients than in the normal controls (P < 0.05) and negatively correlated with sperm concentration (r = -0.433, P < 0.01), the percentage of grade a sperm (r = -0.303, P < 0.05) and the percentage of grade a+b sperm (r = -0.339, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The increased level of human plasma Hcy directly or indirectly affects spermatogenesis and correlates negatively with oligospermia and/or asthenospermia.
Ge
Yi-Feng
YF
Department of Andrology, PLA Research Institute of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, China.
Wang
Chun-Hui
CH
Ouyang
Luo-Xuan
LX
Shao
Yong
Y
Yao
Bing
B
Xia
Xin-Yi
XY
Shang
Xue-Jun
XJ
Huang
Yu-Feng
YF
D000328:Adult; D053627:Asthenozoospermia / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000097:blood*; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility
D006710:Homocysteine