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Abstract
Sperm motility patterns in semen from 10 fertile nonautoimmune men (fertile control group) and 33 infertile men with various titers of cytotoxic sperm antibodies in their seminal plasma (group 1: titers ≤ 16, n — 6; group 2: titers 64 to 512, n - 12; group 3: titers &ge 1024, n — 15) were evaluated every 2 hours for 12 hours and finally at 24 hours. A significant decline in sperm swimming speed and linearity was observed at 6 hours in semen from 27 infertile men with sperm antibodies. Beginning at 8 hours, semen from sperm antibody-positive men in group 2 showed a significant decline in percentage motile sperm (p < 0.001) compared to the fertile controls. The percentage motility in semen of donors in groups 1 and 3 was significantly lower than that in semen of fertile donors at 10 hours (p < 0.05), 12 hours (p < 0.01), and 24 hours (p < 0.001). The mean velocity in groups 2 and 3 was significantly less than that in fertile controls at 10 and 12 hours (p < 0.05). The linearity of sperm motility started to decline 4 hours after semen samples were obtained from sperm antibody-positive groups 2 and 3 in contrast to sperm antibody-negative fertile or infertile groups (p < 0.05). It is concluded that the presence of cytotoxic sperm antibodies in the seminal plasma adversely affects sperm linearity as early as 4 hours after semen collection. Repeat sperm motion analysis 4 to 6 hours after semen collection may detect such deceased activity and thereby suggest the presence of sperm antibodies.