Infertility in men with retrograde ejaculation: the action of urine on sperm motility, and a simple method for achieving antegrade ejaculation.

The profound effect of urine on sperm motility is demonstrated. Two patients with retrograde ejaculation and infertility who achieved antegrade passage of semen by ejaculation on a full bladder are described. The use of this method of management in patients with infertility due to retrograde ejaculation is discussed.

Gel Agglutination Test: its application to infertile men.

In a study involving 253 men attending the Male Fertility Clinic in Nottingham, the Gelatin Agglutination Test on serum gave a positive response in 14.2% of patients and a positive response at a dilution of 1/32 in 11.5% of patients. No correlation was found between a positive GAT response and increasing age or the major pathological entities causing infertility in the male. Of the positive GAT responses, 17% reverted to negative on second testing. The value and the diagnostic importance of this test as well as its reliability is questioned.

Attempted removal of an antisperm antibody from immunized rabbit sera using a double antibody technique.

New Zealand White Rabbits were immunized with whole human semen and with its components. A positive Gel Agglutination Test (GAT) was present in the sera of these rabbits, whereas it was negative in rabbit sera from control immunizations. The GAT response was positive from all the sera from rabbits immunized with the components of seminal fluid whether or not sperm were present, demonstrating that the GAT response is not dependent on the formation of an antibody specific to spermatozoa. Treatment of the immunized sera with two immunoglobulin precipitating sera did not render these rabbit sera GAT negative. These data provide further evidence that the substance or substances producing a positive GAT response are not immunoglobulins.

Sperm immunofluorescence in infertile men: Its relationship with sperm agglutination and gel agglutination.

The spermatozoa from 10 infertile male patients all with sperm agglutination were subjected to direct immunofluorescence using antisera raised against IgA, IgM, and IgG. Sera from these patients were subjected to the Gel Agglutination Test. Although the Gel Agglutination Test related closely with sperm agglutination, none of the spermatozoa from these patients produced a repeatable positive response to direct immunofluorescence. This study suggests that neither sperm agglutination nor the Gel Agglutination Test demonstrate the presence of sperm specific antibodies in the semen of these infertile men.

The isolation of a possible antagglutinin from human semen.

A substance, proteinaceous in nature, with an anti-agglutinic action on clumped sperm has been extracted from human semen. It appears to exist in two forms: an active reduced form and an inactive oxidised form. The protein was extracted from oxidised seminal plasma by salting with saturated ammonium sulphate. The extract was purified by preferential adsorption on a calcium carbonate column, the eluate being collected as fractions. The antagglutinin gave an extinction curve, as determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry, similar to that as reported for the bull. Extraction recoveries, from semen stored frozen at different temperatures, indicate that the substance is possibly enzyme labile. An effect of the antagglutinin on clumped human sperm is illustrated.

Incomplete obstruction of the male genital tract: a cause of oligozoospermia.

Of 71 patients with obstructive azoospermia, 8 gave a history and/or had documentary evidence of oligozoospermia in the past and 2 gave a history of paternity. Thus a period of oligozoospermia preceded their azoospermia. "Partial obstruction" is therefore postulated as a cause of oligozoospermia.