Ambient air pollution decreased normal fertilization rate via the mediation of seminal prosaposin.

OBJECTIVE: This study focuses on the association between seminal concentration of prosaposin and ambient air pollutants and whether the association affects the normal fertilization rate in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. METHODS: The cohort of 323 couple participants aged 22-46 was recruited from Jan. 2013 to Jun. 2018. At enrollment, resident address information was obtained and semen parameters of male counterparts were evaluated according to WHO criteria. We used inverse distance weighting interpolation to estimate the levels of ambient pollutants (SO2, O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5, and PM10) in the surrounding area. The exposure of each participant was estimated based on the data gathered from air quality monitoring stations and their home address over various periods (0-9, 10-14, and 0-90 days) before semen sampling. The generalized linear regression model (GLM) and the Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to analyze the associations between pollutants, semen parameters, prosaposin, and normal fertilization. Additionally, the mediating effect of prosaposin and semen parameters on the link between pollutants and normal fertilization was investigated. RESULTS: GLM and BKMR showed exposure to ambient air pollutants was all associated with the concentration of seminal prosaposin, among them, O3 and CO were also associated with normal fertilization (-0.10, 95 %CI: -0.13, -0.06; -26.43, 95 %CI: -33.79, -19.07). Among the semen parameters, only the concentration of prosaposin and total motile sperm count (TMC) was associated with normal fertilization (0.059, 95 %CI: 0.047, 0.071; 0.016, 95 %CI: 0.012, 0.020). Mediation analysis showed that prosaposin played a stronger mediating role than TMC in the relationship between short-term exposure to O3 and fertilization (66.83 %, P<0.001 versus 3.05 %, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Seminal plasma prosaposin showed a stronger meditating effect reflect the correlation between ambient air pollutants and normal fertilization rate than conventional semen parameters, which may be used as one of the indicators between pollution and fertilization in IVF.

High Serum Anti-Müllerian Hormone Concentrations Are Associated With Poor Pregnancy Outcome in Fresh IVF/ICSI Cycle but Not Cumulative Live Birth Rate in PCOS Patients.

Objective: To investigate the association between baseline serum Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels and IVF/ICSI outcomes in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Reproductive medicine center in a hospital. Population: 2436 PCOS patients (Rotterdam criteria) who underwent their first fresh IVF/ICSI cycles were divided into three groups on the basis of the <25th (Group 1, n=611), 25 to 75th (Group 2, n=1216), or >75th (Group 3, n=609) percentile of baseline serum AMH level. Interventions: Baseline serum AMH levels measured on the 2-3 days of spontaneous menstrual cycle before IVF/ICSI treatment. Main Outcome Measures: Live birth rate (LBR), cumulative live birth rate (CLBR), clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), and normal fertilization rate (FR). Results: The LBR, CPR, and FR were significantly increased in Group 1 than Group 2 and Group 3, however, CLBR was similar between the three groups. The LBR were 46.6%, 40.5%, and 39.4% in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 respectively. The CPR were 53.0%, 47.0%, and 45.5%, respectively. The FR was highest in Group 1 (61.7%, P<0.05), but there was no uniform reverse trend with the AMH level. CLBR were 68.7%, 70.4%, and 71.3%, respectively. Although women in Group 1 were older (p < 0.05) and had higher body mass index (BMI) (p < 0.05), binomial logistic regression analysis used age, BMI, FSH, and AMH as independent variables indicated that only AMH was significantly associated with LBR and CPR. Nevertheless, binomial logistic regression analysis used age, BMI, FSH, AMH, and the number of retrieved oocytes as independent variables indicated that only the number of retrieved oocytes was significantly correlated with CLBR. After stratifying by age, the negative relationship between baseline AMH level and LBR and CPR remained only in the patients <30 years old. Conclusions: Higher baseline AMH level in PCOS women resulted in lower LBR, CPR, and FR but did not influence CLBR.

Orrelations of sperm parameters with fertilization rate of in vitro fertilization / 临床检验杂志

Objective To investigate the correction between the fertilization rate of in vitro fertilization(IVF)and sperm parameters.Methods This retrospective study included 327 cases undergoing IVF procedures in the Center for Reproductive Medicine of Chenz-hou First People's Hospital,who were divided into a low fertilization group(fertilization rate＜30％,n=19)and normal fertilization group(fertilization rate≥30％,n=308)based on the assessment standards of quality control data in the embryology laboratory of our center.The basic information of males,embryo information and related sperm parameters were collected,and the correction between sperm parameters and the fertilization rate was analyzed by Pearson correlation.The influencing factors of the fertilization rate were ana-lyzed by binary logistic regression,and the area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve(AUC)was performed to ana-lyze the predictive value of low fertilization rate.Results The sperm acrosin activity,percentage of spermatozoa with normal morpholo-gy and sperm DNA fragmentation index(DFI)were the relevant factors affecting the fertilization rate,and the correlation coefficients were 0.168,0.306,and-0.243,respectively(all the P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis showed that all the three indicators were independent factors affecting the fertilization rate of IVF,and the multivariate logistic equation was as follows:estimated fertilization rate=-2.561+0.035 ×acrosin activity+2.066×percentage of sperm with normal morphology-1.51×sperm DFI.The areas under the ROC curve(AUC)of acrosin activity,percentage of sperm with normal morphology,sperm DFI and the combination of them were 0.806,0.889,0.827 and 0.899,respectively.The corresponding cut-off values for the Yuden index were 61.20 μIU/106 sperm,2.98％,27.50％and-21.32,respectively.The sensitivity of acrosin activity,percentage of sperm with normal morphology,sperm DFI and the combination of three indicators for the prediction of low fertilization rate were 95.70％,76.90％,68.40％,64.30％,and their specificity were 43.50％,94.70％,87.70％,100.00％,respectively.The combination of three indicators showed the best prediction ef-ficiency.Conclusion Acrosin activity,percentage of sperm with normal morphology and sperm DFI should be the independent factors to predict the fertilization rate of IVF,and the multivariate logistic equation can be used as a reference to predict the fertilization rate of IVF.

Study on the correlation between male serum calcitonin gene-related peptide and the embryo culture outcome after in vitro fertilization / 中华检验医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the correlation between serum calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and the culture outcome of in vitro fertilization embryo in male patients with infertility.Methods:In this study, the randomized samples from 25 male patients who received in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in the 1st Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from June 2019 to October 2019 were analyzed by multiple linear stepwise regression, with some important clinical outcomes, such as the logarithmic conversion index of serum CGRP, fertilization method, masturbation difficulty, age, infertility duration, and prolactin, as independent variables, while total fertilization rate, normal fertilization rate, high quality embryo rate at day 3, blastocyst formation rate as dependent variables.Results:The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the D3 high-quality embryo rate was related to the normal sperm morphology rate in the primary infertility group ( r=0.537, P=0.048), the blastocyst formation rate was correlated with sperm density ( r=0.760, P=0.002), the CGRP logarithm was correlated with the total fertilization rate ( r=0.693, P=0.006). The logarithmic conversion index of serum CGRP was related to the total fertilization rate and normal fertilization rate in the secondary infertility group ( r=0.614, P=0.042 and r=0.611, P=0.046). In the secondary infertility group, there was a linear relationship between normal fertilization rate and total sperm count, serum CGRP log conversion, and sperm normal morphology rate, with standardized regression coefficients of 0.2, -0.729, and 6.8, respectively. Conclusion:Serum CGRP level, together with total sperm count and normal sperm morphology rate may affects normal fertilization rate in male patients with infertility.