title: Sperm-hyaluronan-binding assay: clinical value in conventional IVF under Italian law.
abstract: Hyaluronan has recently been employed in the development of a commercial diagnostic kit for assessing sperm maturity, the so-called sperm-hyaluronan-binding assay (HBA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of this test, in addition to routine semen analysis, to identify patients with poor reproductive prognosis in conventional IVF. Furthermore, the ability of hyaluronan to select spermatozoa with low DNA fragmentation was investigated. A total of 60 IVF patients were analysed with regard to reproductive outcome, sperm parameters, HBA score and sperm DNA fragmentation. The DNA fragmentation analysis was performed using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling assay on the total sperm population and on the hyaluronan-bound spermatozoa obtained from the same samples. No relationship between hyaluronan binding and fertilization, cleavage, good-quality embryos, implantation, clinical pregnancy, miscarriages and biochemical pregnancy rates was found. Otherwise, correlations between spermatozoa hyaluronan binding and morphology (P < 0.01) and a significant difference between DNA fragmentation of the total sperm population and DNA fragmentation of the hyaluronan-bound spermatozoa (P = 0.029) were found. The results underline the ability of hyaluronan to select spermatozoa with higher DNA integrity and morphology. Nevertheless, the clinical value of the HBA in the management of male infertility seems to be limited.
authors.affiliation: Tecnobios Procreazione, Centre for Reproductive Health, Via Dante 15, I-40125 Bologna, Italy. tarozzi@tecnobiosprocreazione.it
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tarozzi
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nadalini
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bizzaro
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serrao
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scaravelli
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D050498:Live Birth; D008297:Male; D054315:Oocyte Retrieval; D010062:Ovulation Induction; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D013076:Sperm Count; D013079:Sperm Maturation / Q000502:physiology*; D013081:Sperm Motility
chemical_list: D006820:Hyaluronic Acid