protective effect of l-carnitine on sperm motility and membrane integrity in men asthenoteratozoospermia: an in vitro study

Background: sperm preparation is a time-consuming process that makes a contribution to oxidative stress induction in assisted reproductive techniques.objective: this study aimed to evaluate the effect of l-carnitine on sperm parameters during semen preparation at different time intervals.materials and methods: in this in vitro study, the semen samples of 50 asthenoteratozoospermic men were divided into the control and the l-carnitine groups (incubated with 0.5 mg/ml l-carnitine) (n=25/each). total motility, progressive motility, sperm membrane integrity (by hypo-osmotic swelling test), and lipid peroxidation (by malondialdehyde level) were assessed in each group after 2, 4, and 6 hours. afterward, samples were analyzed by the world health organization (2010) criteria.result: the results showed that in the control group total and progressive motility, and membrane integrity of the sperm were significantly decreased after 2 hr (p= 0.028, p= 0.019, and p= 0.025, respectively), while malondialdehyde levels increased significantly after 4 hr (p= 0.018). sperm parameters in the l-carnitine group increased significantly after 2 hr (p= 0.002), while malondialdehyde levels decreased significantly compared to the control group in 6 hr (p < 0.001 vs. p =0.045).conclusion: based on these results, l-carnitine can manage to conserve motility and sperm membrane integrity of sperm from the hazardous impact of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation during sperm preparation.