Comparing Seminal Plasma Biomarkers Between Normospermic and Azoospermic Men

Introduction: azoospermia affects more than 10% - 15% of infertile male subjects attendinginfertilty clinics. at present, testicular biopsy is the golden standard procedure for evaluatingspermatogenesis status in men with azoospermia . semen collection and analysis is a noninvasivemethod and has proven to be valuable in the evaluation of spermatogenesis.identification of seminal plasma markers with testicular or extra-testicular origins have a greatvalue in predicting the prescence of sperm in testicular tissue and presumptive cause ofazoospermia. the aim of this study was to find such markers by comparing the content ofseminal plasma using different methods in normospermic and azoospermic men.matherials and methods: semen samples were collected from 200 men attending avicenna infertility clinic (aic) in tehran, iran. semen samples were analysed according to whoguidlines. the subjects were divided into two groups: normospermic (n = 100; group one) andazoospermic men (n = 100; group two) according to semen analysis results. seminal plasmawas separated by high speed centrifuagation and stored in -20‹ c. four markers includingfructose, neutral alpha glucosidase (nαg), inhibin b and anti-mullerian hormone (amh) weremeasured in seminal plasma. fructose and nαg were evaluated by spectrophotometry, whileinhibin b and amh were assessed by elisa method. the spermatogenesis status in theazoospermic group was evaluated by histopathological method following testicular biopsy.results: fructose concentration showed no difference between the two groups. however, itwas significantly correlated with sperm count (p < 0.01, r = -0.408). seminal plasma inhibin b(or: 1.01; 95%: ci: 1.005 - 1.016), amh (or: 1.63; 95% ci: 1.17 - 2.28) and nα g, (or:1.07; 95% ci: 1.04 - 1.1) levels were higher in normospermic subjects compared to azoospermicmen. there were significant differences in inhibin b and amh concentrationsbetween the two groups based on the presence or absence of mature sperm in testicular biopsies(p < 0.01). inhibin b concentration was positively correlated with sperm count in the normospermicgroup, however, nα g concentration correlated with sperm count of normospermic men(p < 0.01, r = 0.345) and the subjectsfage in both groups.conclusion: inhibin b and amh were correlated with the presence of sperm in testicular tissuesamples. according to non-specific changes in inhibin b and amh concentrations, identificationof more specific molecular markers in seminal plasma to definitely evaluate the status ofspermatogenesis is recommended.