Journal of Reproduction & Infertility
Year:2013 | Volume:14 | Issue:2 (55)|Papers Count:9

More than five million babies have been born by the application of assisted conception methods throughout the world, and about 1% to 2% of babies in developed countries are born by the help of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) in couples with infertility. In spite of huge developments in equipment’s, techniques, procedures, supplies and greater control of environmental factors which affect assisted conception processes, there is mounting concern regarding anomalies and birth defects from assisted conception in the community and, especially, among infertile couples. Although this concern is very low compared to the time of application of IVF technology three decades ago, but results of more comprehensive longitudinal studies have revealed increased risk of congenital anomalies, malformation and early pregnancy loss associated with ART (1).What really increases the defects, or whether these defects are transferred through parental gametes to the offspring or whether suboptimal in vitro conditions cause permanent changes in gametes or embryos that will influence the future life of IVF babies are not clearly known yet. Comparison of babies conceived through ART with babies of infertile/subfertile couples conceived without these techniques and those of fertile couples emphasize the role of optimization of assisted conception processes on their success rate and on the present and future health of these babies.

Background: Apelin is a mitogenic peptide; it has functions in vessel formation and cell proliferation. In this study we aimed to evaluate the serum and tissue levels and local expression pattern of apelin in eutopic and ectopic endometrium from patients with and without endometriosis and to compare the proliferative and secretory phase differences.Methods: Thirty women with endometriosis and 15 women without endometriosis undergoing surgery for benign indications as control group were included in the study. Serum and tissue concentrations and proliferative and secretory phase expression patterns of apelin were evaluated in the ectopic and eutopic endometrium using immunoassay and immunohistochemistry methods. The results were compared with Mann-Whitney U test. The p-values smaller than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.Results: Apelin expression was detected in eutopic and ectopic endometrium of women with endometriosis and endometrium of control group. Intense immunoreactivity of apelin was observed in glandular cells of eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissues of women with endometriosis and endometrium of control group during secretory phase (p<0.01). In both groups, tissue concentrations of apelin were higher than of the serum (p=0.03) but, there were no significant differences between the two groups for tissue and serum concentrations of apelin.Conclusion: Apelin expression showed cyclic changes in eutopic and ectopic endometrium. Its expression may be related to menstrual changes of angiogenesis in endometrium of women.

Background: Extracted sperm from the testis have poor motility. Moreover, their motility changes during their journey through epididymis. Meanwhile, they face high concentration of L-carnitin. In addition, lactate dehydrogenase C4 (LDH-C4) gene disorders has been shown to cause impaired sperm motility, leading to infertility in male mice. The aim of this study was to evaluate sperm motility and LDH-C4 enzyme activity upon L-carnitine (LC) and Pentoxifylline (PTX) administrations in mice.Methods: We extracted testicular sperm of 48 mice and divided them into three equal parts. One part was incubated with Ham's F10 medium (control), the other parts were treated with Ham's F10 containing LC and PTX with a final concentration of 1.76 mM, for 30 min at room temperature. Sperm motility was assessed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Sperm LDH-C4 enzyme activity was measured by spectrophotometry method. Statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and Fisher's LSD test, and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant difference.Results: Sperm motility increased after 30 min of incubation in LC- and PTX-treated group (p<0.001). LC and PTX administrations showed a significant increase in the LDHC4 enzyme activity of sperm compared to that of the controls after 30 min (P=0.04 and 0.01, respectively).Conclusion: The effects of LC and PTX on motility of sperm can be explained by an increase in LDH-C4 enzyme activity that may influence male fertility status. We suggest that LC as a non-toxic antioxidant is more suitable for use in assisted reproductive technique protocols than PTX.

Background: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome that may be life threatening, especially to the fetus. Several causes have been reported that may have a possible role in the development of the disorder. Interleukin-10 affects maternal intravascular inflammation, as well as endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between IL-10 G-1082A polymorphism and preeclampsia.Methods: A total of eighty−eight pregnant women with preeclampsia and 100 women with normal pregnancy attending the Gynecological unit of Government Maternity Hospital, Petlaburz, Hyderabad, India, were considered for the study. A standard amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) PCR was carried out for genotyping IL-10 G-1082A promoter polymorphism in all the participants. Genotypic distribution of the control and patient groups were compared with values predicted by Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium using c2 test. Odd ratios (OR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals were used to measure the strength of association between IL-10 gene polymorphism and preeclampsia.Results: The frequencies of IL-10 G-1082A genotypes, GG, GA and AA, were 17.8%, 41.09% and 41.09% in women with preeclampsia and 25%, 28% and 47% in the controls respectively. There was no significant difference in the distribution of genotypes and alleles of IL-10 G-1082A between the two groups (Test power=0.66).Conclusion: The present study suggests that the IL-10 G-1082A gene promoter polymorphism is not a major genetic regulator in the etiology of preeclampsia.

Background: Nowadays, Chlamydia trachomatis is known as a causative agent of infertility. Because of, asymptomatic nature of infection, many may suffer from its lasting complications such as infertility. This study was performed in Tehran during April 2007 to April 2008 to compare the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in fertile and infertile women using ELISA and PCR methods.Methods: Overall, 234 infertile and 223 pregnant women, as the fertile group, participated in this hospital-based case-control study. After completing an informed consent form and the questionnaire, first catch urine and blood sample were obtained for PCR and ELISA (IgG, IgM) tests, respectively. Logistic regression analysis was used to control possible confounding factors, and determine adjusted odds ratio of infertility due to the infection.Results: PCR results revealed that 29 (12.4%) of the infertile and 19 (8.5%) of the fertile women were positive for C. trachomatis infection (p=0.440). IgG was positive in 21 (9.0%) of the infertile and 11 (5.0%) in the fertile group (p=0.093). IgM assays identified that 2 (0.9%) of the infertile and 4 (1.8%) of the fertile women were positive for the micro-organism (p=0.375).Conclusion: We found no significant differences among fertile and infertile women for Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Nevertheless, molecular techniques which are more sensitive, more specific and non-invasive can be used to detect C. trachomatis infection.

Background: Anti-sperm antibody (ASA) can decrease sperm motility and, therefore, it is a cause of male infertility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of varicocelectomy on anti-sperm antibody in patients with varicocele.Methods: This observational study was conducted on 90 patients with varicocele at Sina and Imam Khomeini hospitals during 2006 to 2009. All varicocelectomy candidates were selected for ASA assessment both in semen and serum before and after surgery. ASA level was measured using a direct method for semen and an indirect method of Sperm MAR test, for serum. Paired t-test and McNemar's test were used for data analysis, and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: ASA level in semen was 13.7% before, and 15.7% after three month of varicocelectomy (p=0.881). Serum level of ASA before and after surgery were 13.6% and 21.7%, respectively (p=0.033). Three parameters including sperm count, motility and morphology showed recovery following, varicocelectomy, but only the difference in sperm motility was significant (p<0.05).Conclusion: This study showed that varicocelectomy has no effect on semen ASA.Although serum antibody has been shown to increase after varicocelectomy but sperm motility will improve. Varicocelectomy seems to have a beneficial effect on semen parameters in infertile men with varicocele.

Background: We performed this study to evaluate use of fresh and frozen sperm samples in non-obstructive azoospermia micro dissection testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE-ICSI) treatment.Methods: We performed a total of 82 consecutive in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles at Fertijin IVF Center in Istanbul, Turkey from January 2010 to March 2012. In 43 participants we used fresh sperm and frozen sperm in the remaining 39 cases. We used fresh and frozen thawed micro surgical testicular sperm extraction (micro TESE) sperm for ICSI with metaphase II (MII) oocytes.Results: Frozen microTESE sperm was used in 39 cycles, while 43 ICSI cycles were performed using fresh microTESE. Neither the age of male partners (38.33±5.93 and 38.13±8.28) nor that of the female participants (33.16±6.38 and 33.33±6.97) showed significant difference between fresh versus the microTESE and frozen treatment groups, respectively. FSH concentrations were (14.66±13.93mIU/ml) in fresh TESE group and (17.91±16.29mIU/ml) in frozen group with no correlations or differences between the two groups. The average number of mature oocytes injected with sperm was 9.23±3.77, versus 9.26±5.26 in cycles using fresh and frozen microTESE sperm, respectively. Fertilization rate was not significantly different in the fresh microTESE (44.79%) than frozen TESE sperm group (46.76%). The average number of transferred embryos was 1.60±0.49 in fresh sperm group and 1.59±0.50 in frozen sperm group. All embryo transfers were performed on day 3.Conclusion: Cryopreservation of testicular sperm tissues is more suitable and of great benefit if carried out before ovulation induction and not after, especially in cases with non-obstructive azoospermia.

Background: The objective of this study was to describe the extent of sexual activity in adolescent school girls.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with prolective collection of data carried out at Lycee General Leclerc, Yaounde (Cameroon), from October 1 to November 30, 2011. Heterosexual coitus was considered as sexual activity. A pretested selfadministered questionnaire was proposed to all consenting girl students aged 10 to 19 years. The data were analyzed using Epi Info 3.2.1 and Microsoft Excel 2007 software.Results: Of the 2660 students who responded to the questionnaire, 21.3% (566) admitted being sexually active. Out of these, 64.3% (364) were aged between 10 and 16 years at their first heterosexual contact. The mean age at the first sexual intercourse was 15.3 years. Although 56.4% (319) of the sexually active respondents had only one sexual partner, 43.6% (247) of them had at least two partners. Sexual activity was occasional in 71.4% of those being sexually active. Meanwhile, 52.1% (295) of the sexually active adolescent girls used condoms during sexual intercourse, 41.5% (235) did so occasionally, and 6.4% (36) had regular unprotected sex.Conclusion: More than one-fifth of adolescent girls were sexually active in this study. Sexual intercourse started mostly at the age of 16 or less, and it was mostly occasional. Half of the cases had multiple sexual partners, and half were not using condoms during sexual intercourse. We, thus, recommend the implementation of interventions aimed at delaying the age of the first sexual intercourse and accessibility of condoms to students in this setting.

Background: Infertility is one of the most difficult life experiences that a couple might encounter. Infertility as a bio-psycho-social phenomenon could influence all aspects of life. While paying special attention to the psychological aspects of infertility in couples; many studies have investigated the non-clinical aspects of infertility, however, they rarely have evaluated the psychosocial development of infertile versus fertile men. We aimed to study the effects of infertility on psychosocial development in men.Methods: In fact, we designed the study based on "Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development". We focused on the relationship between psychosocial development and some self-conceived indices. For this purpose, we divided the participants volunteers into two groups of cases (80 infertile men) and controls (40 fertile men) and asked them to complete a 112 (questions questionnaire based on "self description").The statistical analysis was performed by SPSS (version 13) using independent ttest, Pearson correlation coefficient and analysis of covariance. A p-value<0.05 was considered significant.Results: Data analysis showed significant inter and intra group differences. Infertile and fertile groups showed significant differences in trust, autonomy, generatively and integrity stages (p<0.05). Infertile intergroup analysis represents us to higher scores in positive than negative stages.Conclusion: Infertility as a phenomenon had its own effects on the psychosocial development of infertile men. However, good coping skills are powerful tools to manage these myriad of feelings surrounding infertile men.