International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine
Year:2004 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Background: Fetal alcohol syndrome is associated with numerous problems in the development and function of the brain. Learning and memory deficits are among well known effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol.Objective: This study aimed to examine the spatial working memory of 60-day old rats who were exposed to alcohol during their fetal life and to find the relation between the possible alcoholimpaired spatial memory and gestational period of exposure to alcohol.Materials and Methods: Pregnant rats in different stages of gestation period were administered with ethanol. Using a radial arm maze, the offspring were subjected to spatial working memory training at 60 days of postnatal age.Results: The rats exposed to ethanol during the first 10 days of fetal life indicated lower performances compared to the controls. Those receiving alcohol during the second half of pregnancy period had no problem in maze navigation. Behavior of the animals exposed to alcohol during the first and the second quarter of the gestation period demonstrated that only the latter were weak in solving maze tasks. The groups related to the third and the forth quarter of gestation period had a similar behavior with the control group. Comparison of the animals" performances in all groups revealed that only the second quarter group was the most disadvantaged.Conclusion: Our data indicates that the second quarter of the gestation period is more sensitive to harmful effects of alcohol on the areas of brain involved in learning and memory. Since the hippocampus is central in cognitive functions and this part of brain is highly vulnerable to alcohol effects it can be concluded that the hippocampus is mostly affected in the second quarter of prenatal life.

Background: Pentoxifylline (PX) prevents cAMP breakdown by inhibiting the activity of the cAMP-phosphatase and presumably, stimulates sperm motion. Incubation with PX causes hyperactivation of sperm, an important step in achieving fertilization, and leads to changes in membranes associated with sperm capacitation.Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pentoxifylline on sperm viability, motility and fertilization rate after mouse sperm preservation.Materials & Methods: Epididymal spermatozoa from adult NMRI mice were collected in T6 medium supplemented with 5% BSA and divided into four control and four experimental groups. The control groups included: (1) Fresh sperm sample (2) Preserved sperm sample at room temperature for 18 hours. (3) Preserved sperm sample at incubator 37°C for 18 hours. (4) Preserved sperm sample at 4°C for 18 hours. Experimental groups were the same groups after treatment with 3mmol/L PX. All the samples were assessed according to World Health Organization Criteria. Oocytes from superovulated NMRI female mice were inseminated in-vitro incubated sperm of all the control and experimental groups. After insemination and washing, the fertilization rate and cleavage rate were assessed by the presence of two pronucleus (2PN) and 2-cell stage embryos. To study the acrosomal reaction of control and treated spermatozoa transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique was used.Results: The results showed that addition of 3mmol PX to preserved mouse spermatozoa at 4 ؛C and 37 ؛C could increase the motility rate significantly (P<0.05) and also it could enhance abnormal morphology rate. Significant increase of fertilization rate was seen after preservation of treated sperm at 4 ؛C (P<0.05), but there was not seen significant difference regarding cleavage rate comparing treated and non-treated spermatozoa (P>0.05). Studies with electron microscopy showed that addition of PX to the preserved spermatozoa prevent early acrosomal reaction.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that addition of pentoxifylline in mouse sperm samples after short time preservation can enhance the motility and fertilization rate, although it can enhance the abnormal morphology. It also can increase the number of intact sperm after preservation.

Background: There is growing evidence that damage to spermatozoa by reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in male infertility.Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the antioxidant status of seminal plasma by measuring total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in men with asthenozoospermia, asthenoteratozoospermia and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia compared to normozoospermic males, and their correlations with seminal parameters.Materials and Methods: 46 men with seminal parameters abnormalities divided in three categories: asthenozoospermic (n=15), asthenoteratozoospermic (n=16) and oligoasthenoteratozoospermic (n=15), according WHO criteria, participated in the study. The control group consisted of 25 males with normozoospermia. Catalase activity was measured by Aebi spectrophotometeric method. Commercially available colorimetric assays were used for measuring SOD activity and TAC.Results: TAC evaluation showed significantly lower values in the total case group (n=46) versus control group (1.05±0.04 mmmol/ml vs. 1.51±0.07 mmol/ml, p<0.05). Catalase activity also showed significantly lower values in the total case group (n=46) versus control group (14.40± 0.93 U/ml vs. 21.33±1.50 U/ml). But this difference was not significant for SOD activity (5.31±0.56 U/ml vs. 6.19±0.83 U/ml). Both catalase activity and TAC in asthenozoospermic,asthenoteratozoospermic, oligoasthenoteratozoospermic subjects were significantly lower than normozoospermic males, but SOD activity did not show a significant difference between these groups. Both catalase activity and TAC showed a positively significant correlation with progressively motile sperms and normal sperm morphology, but these correlations with SOD activity were not significant.Conclusion: Decreasing seminal plasma antioxidant status especially catalase activity and TAC may have significant role in etiology of sperm abnormality.

Background: The etiologic cause in near one third of male factor infertility is unknown. The percentage of men with idiopathic infertility who have been successfully treated by the empirical therapeutic modalities is not high.Objective: The aim of this study was to assay the effect of L-carnitine on sperm parameters in patients who needs intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as a method for infertility treatment. Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 65 men (mean age± SD: 34.4 ± 6.07) presenting with primary infertility due to idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. L-carnitine was prescribed 1gram orally every 8 hours for 3 months. Before and after the ending of the L-carnitine treatment, semen analysis was performed.Results: The proportion of patients who had motile and grade C sperms rose significantly after treatment. Percentile of abnormal shaped sperms decreased significantly after treatment. In approximately 22%, complete asthenozoospermia changed to relative asthenozoospermia.Conclusion: Appearing motile sperms will potentially improve the technique of ICSI. The magnitude of the elevation in normal morphology is not clinically obvious, but it seems that it can be important in obtaining normal-shaped sperms for intracytoplasmic injection.Designing a study on selected patients with complete asthenozoospermia who have not other abnormalities in semen parameters can reveal the real effect of carnitine therapy in this category.

Background: Embryo transfer has received little clinical attention and has been the most inefficient step in in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Recent reports have suggested that an awareness of the position and length of the uterus during embryo transfer might be helpful in improving pregnancy rate. Objectives: The main objective of the present study was to determine the relation between the length and position of the uterus during embryo transfer and pregnancy rate.Materials and Methods: Patients were randomly allocated to two groups. In case group A (n=40) length of uterus was measured at the day of oocytes collection and the position of uterus was determined. In the control group, Group B, (n=40) the length and position of uterus were not investigated. The embryo transfer catheter was advanced to 5 mm from uterine fondues based on the previously determined cavity length in group A. The embryo transfer procedures ( IVF/ICSI) at 48 hours after oocytes collection was done. The outcome of the treatment cycle in two groups was investigated. Data analysis was performed by using chi-square, fisher-exact and ANOVA tests. The statistical significant was defined (P.0.05).Results: There were no significant differences in the mean age (28.5+4.4, 27.8+6.2), and duration of infertility (7+3.4, 8.7+5.4). The pregnancy rate was not significantly different with respect to position and length of uterus. The pregnancy rate in case groups was 25% and in control group was 22.5%, the difference was not significant (P= 0.792). In both groups, there were ectopic peregnancy and in fact he incidence of ectopic pregnancy, per reported clinical pregnancy, was highest in group A (14.9%) in comparison with group B (1.8%).Conclusion: The pregnancy rate was not significantly different in the two groups. Misdirecting the embryo transfer can not be avoided by an accurate knowledge of the position or length of uterine at the time of oocytes retrieval. Further studies are required to evaluate the role of length and position of uterus related to the pregnancy rate.

Background: Infertility affects about 10-15% of reproductive-age couples. About half the causes of infertility are female related and approximately 40% of the cases are caused by anovulation, mostly in PCO women.Objective: This study was conducted to determine and compare the effects of two drug treatment regimens: higher dose of clomiphene and a combination of lower dose of clomiphene and tamoxifen in treating infertile women with PCO.Materials and Methods: The study was a randomized clinical trial conducted on 100 infertile patients who referred to Yazd-Iran Infertility Clinic between the years 2001-2003. The patients were selected who had received at least 3 periods of clomiphene, but no pregnancy had occurred. They were randomly divided into two groups. In the first group, clomiphene was increased to 100 mg and the second group 20 mg of tamoxifen was added to 50 mg of clomiphene from day 5-9 of menstruation cycle. Infertility duration, duration of medicine used, PCT score, endometrial thickness, ovulation, and pregnancy rate were studied in both groups.Results: Ovulation rate in clomiphene group was 54.9%; Tamoxifen + clomiphene group was 73.5% without significant differences in both groups. (PV = 0.053). Positive pregnancy rate in clomiphene group was 39.2%; clomiphene + tamoxifen group was 61.2% (P value < 0.05), which could be concluded that pregnancy rate was higher in clomiphene/tamoxifen group than in the clomiphene group. The presence of a dominant follicle in the two treatment groups in women between 18-24 was not significant, but in women between 25-39 years was significant (PV= 0.049) (Table III).Conclusion: The recommendation is to add Tamoxifen to Clomiphene in 35-39 women with 20. BMI .26.99 before the use of gonadotropins treatment in PCOS with or without IUI, because these options have higher risk of multiple pregnancy and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

Background: In patients with anovulatory infertility the first choice of treatment for ovulation induction is an antiestrogen, most commonly clomiphene citrate (CC). However, 20-25% of the women are resistant to CC and do not ovulate perhaps due to antiestrogenic mechanism of the CC action, which involves long-lasting estrogen receptor (ER) depletion.Objective: The objective of the study was to mimic the action of CC without depletion of ERs by the administration of an aromatase inhibitor letrozole in a selected group of Poly Cystic Ovary (PCO) patients who demonstrated failure to ovulate after treatment with CC.Materials and Methods: 20 patients with anovulation due to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS),who had previously inadequately responded to CC were selected for study. The aromatase inhibitor letrozole was administered orally in a dose of 2.5 mg on days 3-7 of the menstrual cycle. Then, occurrence of ovulation, endometrial thickness, and pregnancy rates were determined.Result(s): Only one patient had one dominant follicle (1.8 cm diameter) on day 14 of the cycle (estradiol = 200 pg/ml). IUI was done; however, no pregnancy took place. In the remaining cases, several sonographies were done between days 9 to 15 of the cycle; however, all cycles were cancelled due to absence of a dominant follicle (>1.4 cm).Conclusion(s): Our study did not confirm the favorable effect of letrozole for induction of ovulation in patients with clomiphene resistant PCO.

Backgrownd: Studies in regions with seasonal climatic variations have revealed a correlation between human natural conception and birth rates. Holidays and other cultural activities probably have influence on conception, but the ambient temperature and emotional influences on the female hormones related to fertility may play an important part in the seasonal variation in conception. Objectives: The aim of study was to determine the relationship between the success rate of Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) treatment cycles and temperature in different seasons. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study on all individuals undergoing assisted ART at our institution was performed during June 2000 to June 2001. The study population represented 258 IVF-ET cycles and 821 ICSI treatment cycles. Different variables were analyzed using X2 test.Results: In IVF treatment cycles, conception was more common from early spring (March to June).This decreased from spring, with the minimum in fall, 22% and 14%, respectably. A significant seasonal variability in the number of eggs, embryo transferred and sperm motility was not demonstrated (p>0.05), but sperm count was significantly higher in spring than any other season (72+4 x106 and 52+7x106, respectively).Conclusion: The seasonal changes should be taken into account together with other factors when evaluating infertility data.