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Updated: Aug 20, 2026
Fluorimetric Techniques for the Assessment of Sperm Membranes
Published on: November 28, 2018
Acrosin activity as a potential marker for sperm membrane characteristics in unexplained male infertility
Koel Chaudhury1, Tuhin Das, Baidyanath Chakravarty
1School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. koel@smst.iitkgp.ernet.in
Objective:
To evaluate sperm membrane system integrity in unexplained infertile male subjects with three consecutive conception failures on IUI even though semen clinical parameters were normal.
Design:
Prospective study.
Setting:
Medical biotechnology laboratory, School of Medical Science and Technology IIT Kharagpur, India.
Patient(S):
Twenty-nine patients with unexplained infertility, 17 normal proven-fertile healthy donors, and 21 infertile males with low motility but with other semen parameters remaining normal.
Intervention(S):
Semen samples were collected from unexplained infertile patients as well as from healthy fertile donors after abstinence of 3-5 days and were analyzed according to World Health Organization guidelines.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Release of 5'-nucleotidase (plasma membrane marker), lactate dehydrogenase (mitochondrial marker) and free acrosin, proacrosin, and total acrosin (acrosomal membrane marker).
Result(S):
Plasma membrane integrity and respiratory activity of sperm cells were comparable in all three groups. The proacrosin-acrosin system was adversely affected in unexplained infertile subjects despite high sperm motility.
Conclusion(S):
Total acrosin activity may be considered as a sensitive biochemical marker for clinical evaluation of unexplained infertility in males.
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