M. Rasanen et al., A PLACEBO-CONTROLLED FLOW CYTOMETRIC STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF LOW-DOSE PREDNISOLONE TREATMENT ON SPERM-BOUND ANTIBODY-LEVELS, International journal of andrology, 19(3), 1996, pp. 150-154
In this placebo-controlled study the effect of short term, low-dose pr
ednisolone treatment on sperm-bound antibody levels was investigated u
sing an objective flow cytometric (FCM) measurement. Twenty infertile
men, positive for antisperm antibodies by the mixed antiglobulin react
ion (MAR) test, were treated with either 20 mg/day prednisolone (n = 1
0) or placebo (n = 10) for 3 weeks. The two groups were similar with r
espect to sperm count, motility and antibody levels. The proportion of
spermatozoa positive for IgG and IgA antibodies and the antibody load
, expressed as the number of IgG and IgA antibody molecules bound per
spermatozoa were measured by FCM. The study showed that, overall, the
antibody levels measured before and after treatment with low-dose pred
nisolone or with placebo were not statistically different. However, in
the prednisolone group a marked decrease in the proportion of spermat
ozoa positive for IgG and IgA antibodies was observed in two of the pa
tients. An examination of the FCM data of these two patients revealed
that, in their ejaculates, only the spermatozoa with low to moderate a
mounts of sperm-bound antibodies had responded to prednisolone treatme
nt, while spermatozoa with high levels of sperm antibodies had remaine
d resistant to prednisolone. These results point to the existence of a
n as-yet-undefined subset of prednisolone-responsive, antibody-positiv
e spermatozoa.