Antispermatozoal autoantibodies and genital infection

The aim of this study was to evaluate why high levels of antispermatozoa autoantibodies (SPZAA) in seminal fluid represent a particularly detrimental factor in male fertility. We studied a population of 219 patients consulting us on conjugal sterility associated with an initial asthenospermia. We looked in each case for the presence of SPZAA at the surface of spermatozoa in the seminal fluid and in the serum. We found 31 patients positive for surface SPZAA, 26 of whom had urogenital infections. We also demonstrated statistically significant correlations between high levels of SPZAA in seminal fluid and both a reduction in ejaculate volume and a tendency to oligospermia. A similar correlation was found between the reduction in ejaculate volume and oligospermia. These results suggest that urogenital infection is at present the main cause of SPZAA production, that testicular damage is frequently associated with apparently isolated glandular damage, and above all that a high level of SPZAA in seminal fluid has a more detrimental effect on male fertility due to more severe genital (glandular and testicular) damage.