Alteration of neutral-alpha glucosidase in seminal plasma and correlation with sperm motility among men investigated for infertility Nigeria: a cross-sectional study
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Date
2020-06-30
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Fertility Science and Research
Abstract
Introduction: Proteomic studies are becoming popular lately among reproductive biologists in the
diagnosis and management of several diseases including male infertility. Objective: To evaluate the
level of Neutral-alpha Glucosidase (NAG) in the seminal plasma of men being investigated for infertility in
and to correlate its activity with sperm motility. Materials and Methods: Four hundred men age range
23–60 years were consecutively recruited in the study. After physical and clinical evaluation, the semen was
collected by self or assisted masturbation and analysis was done according to the World Health
Organization guidelines. The semen was then centrifuged and seminal plasma separated for the assay
of NAG activity by ELISA technique using reagents supplied by Melson Medical Co, Shangai, China within
one week of collection. The participants were categorized in to normozoospermia (191), oligozoospermia
(98), severe oligozoospermia (70) and azoospermia (41) based on sperm count. Results: The mean levels of
NAG activity decreased with decreasing levels of sperm count with values lowest among azoospermia and
highest among normozoospermic subjects. The comparison of NAG activity between the various categories
and control subjects was significantly different (P<0.001) except for normozoospermia which was not
significantly different (P>0.05) when compared with controls. The mean NAG activity level was significantly
lower among the asthenozoospermia (P<0.001) compared with normozoospermia. The NAG activity
correlated positively with percentage sperm motility (r=0.126; P<0.02) and percentage sperm count
(r=0.107; P<0.05). Conclusion: The findings indicate that NAG can be used for the assessment of semen
quality as an adjunct to traditional semen analysis.
Description
Keywords
Astenozoospermia, male infertility, neutral α-glucosidase, semen analysis, ACE: Reproductive Health Innovation, CERHI, University of Benin, Nigeria
Citation
: Moronkeji MA, Emokpae MA. Alteration of neutral alpha glucosidase in seminal plasma and correlation with sperm motility among men investigated for