April 2018 Vol. 6 No.4

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Original Research Article

Effect of L-Carnitine and Glutathione Supplemented to FertiCult Flushing Medium on Human Sperm Parameters During in vitro Sperm Activation in Asthenozoospermic Men

Akbal O. AL-Amery^1#, Ahmed Saed AL-Ebady², Hayder A. L. Mossa¹, Lubna A. AL-Anbari¹ and Mohammad O. Selman¹

¹High Institute for Infertility Diagnosis and ART's, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad-IRAQ.
²College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Obstetrics-Al-Qadisiya University, IRAQ

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: akbalobaid@googlemail.com

Accepted April 28, 2018

Abstract

L-Carnitine (LC) plays important role in sperm metabolism, act as antioxidant and provides readily available energy for use by spermatozoa, which positively affects sperm motility, maturation and spermatogenic process. Glutathione (GSH) has several biological functions found widely in animal body, in somatic cells and also in gametes. It has an important role in anti-oxidation process of endogenous and exogenous composts. The aim of this study was designed to investigate the effect of combination of LC and GSH on human sperm function parameters of Asthenozoospermic men. The study included forty five of asthenozoospermic infertile men as study group and twenty five normozoospermic fertile men as control group. Ejaculated semen were obtained from patients and divided into two equal portions, first portion was activated by free FertiCult Flushing medium as (control), and second portion activated by L-Carnitine and Glutathione (GSH) in 5mM concentration to each one, prepared sperm by centrifugation –swim up technique, and examined microscopic parameters. Result of in vitro sperm activation by LC and GSH was significant (P<0.05) decrease in sperm concentration, highly significant increase (P<0.001) in sperm motility, and highly significant decrease in immotile sperm (grade D) and significant increase (P<0.05) in morphologically normal sperm (MNS) compared with pre-activation and control medium. This study has been shown a positive effect and improvement in certain sperm functional parameters after in vitro sperm activation by LC and GSH supplemented medium.

Keywords: L-Carnitine, Glutathione, FertiCult Flushing Medium, Sperm Function Parameters, in vitro sperm activation