Clinical importance of zona pellucida-induced acrosome reaction and its predictive value for IVF

The study aimed to establish zona pellucida induced acrosome reaction respo nse (ZIAR) among 35 couples with normal and G-pattern sperm morphology and repeated poor fertilization results during assisted reproduction treatment, ZIAR tests were performed using 0.25 zona pellucida/mul co-incubated with spermatozoa for 60 min. Acrosome reactions were measured with FITC-PSA stai ning, and expressed as the difference between stimulated and unstimulated ( spontaneous) sperm populations, Results were compared with IVF rates of met aphase II oocytes, Interactive dot diagrams divided the patients into two g roups, i.e. ZIAR <15% and ZIAR > 15%, with mean fertilization rates of 49 a nd 79% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for ZIAR results versu s fertilization were 93 and 100% respectively. The area under the curve was 99% and the 95% confidence interval did not include 0.5 which implies that the ZIAR test is able to predict fertilization failure among IVF patients. In conclusion, the ZIAR test has diagnostic potential since it can assist the clinician to identify couples that will benefit from intracytoplasmic s perm injection therapy.