THE EFFECT OF ANTIOXIDANT TREATMENT ON HUMAN SPERMATOZOA AND FERTILIZATION RATE IN AN IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION PROGRAM

Objective: To study the possible influence of antioxidant treatment on human spermatozoa and the fertilization rate in an IVF program. Desig n: Prospective study. Setting: In Vitro Fertilization Unit, Serlin Mat ernity Hospital, and the Laboratory of Male Fertility, Bar-Ilan Univer sity, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Patients: Fifteen fertile normospermic male v olunteers who had had low fertilization rates in their previous IVF cy cles. Interventions: Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 200 mg daily by mout h for 3 months. Main Outcome Measures: Lipid peroxidation potential (a mount of malondialdehyde [MDA]), quantitative ultramorphologic analysi s of spermatozoa, and fertilization rate per cycle. Results: The high MDA levels significantly decreased from 12.6 +/- 9.4 nmol/10(8) sperma tozoa to nor mal levels of 7.8 +/- 4.2 nmol/10(8) spermatozoa after 1 month of treatment. The fertilization rate per cycle increased signifi cantly from 19.3 +/- 23.3 to 29.1 +/- 22.2 after 1 month of treatment. No additional effects on MDA levels and fertilization rate were obser ved after completion of treatment. With regard to the quantitative ult ramorphologic analysis, none of the sperm cell subcellular organelles were affected significantly by vitamin E treatment. Conclusion: Vitami n E may improve the fertilization rate of fertile normospermic males w ith low fertilization rates after 1 month of treatment, possibly by re ducing the lipid peroxidation potential, and with no change of the qua ntitative ultramorphologic analysis of subcellular organelles.