Evaluation of male fertility potential by Toluidine Blue test for sperm chromatin structure assessment.
BACKGROUND
We have previously suggested that the Toluidine Blue (TB) test can be used for sperm chromatin structure assessment. In this study, we wished to evaluate the clinical applicability of the TB test in assessing male fertility potential using well-defined groups of fertile and infertile men.


METHODS
Sixty-three fertile and 79 infertile men were tested. Infertility thresholds for the proportion of sperm with abnormal [TB dark cells (TBDCs)] and normal [TB light cells (TBLCs)] chromatin structure were set by the ROC curve analysis.


RESULTS
Thresholds of 45% TBDC and 20% TBLC were highly predictive for infertility (specificity of the test: 92 and 90%, respectively), but they were poor predictors of the fertility (sensitivity of the test: 42 and 32%, respectively). Odds ratio for infertility was 7.5 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.7-20.8] when the 45% TBDC threshold was used and 4.4 (95% CI: 1.7-11.6) when the 20% TBLC threshold was used.


CONCLUSIONS
The TB test can be suggested for clinical use as a complementary test for standard semen analysis to diagnose male infertility.
Tsarev
I
I
Andrology Laboratory, Riga Stradins University, Riga LV 1007, Latvia.
Bungum
M
M
Giwercman
A
A
Erenpreisa
J
J
Ebessen
T
T
Ernst
E
E
Erenpreiss
J
J
D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D012372:ROC Curve; D012661:Semen / Q000166:cytology; D055101:Semen Analysis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013076:Sperm Count; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D014048:Tolonium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*
D002843:Chromatin; D014048:Tolonium Chloride