Erythropoietin level in normal and abnormal human seminal fluid

Abstract

Background. There are not enough publications devoted to the study of erythropoietin in human sperm. According to the results of these studies, the erythropoietin takes part in the regulation of spermatogenesis, affecting the synthesis of hormones, in particular steroid ones. Currently, the physiological and pathogenetic effects of erythropoietin on human ejaculate have not been thoroughly studied. In this regard, the study of this protein in the ejaculate in patients with diseases of the male reproductive system, as well as in their absence, is relevant.The study objective is to determine the concentration of erythropoietin in ejaculate samples of healthy and men with oligoastenozoospermia.Materials and methods. Samples of ejaculate of 52 men of reproductive age were examined. The ejaculate was examined using the SQA-V sperm analyzer (MES, Israel). According to the results of the study, two groups were identified: the main group (n = 18) with reduced fertility and the control group (n = 34) with normal spermogram indicators. In seminal plasma samples, the concentration of erythropoietin was determined by solid-phase enzyme immunoassay using the test system “Erythropoietin-IFA-BEST” (A-8776) (Vector-best LLC, Russia).Results. Erythropoietin was detected in all ejaculate samples, the results ranged from 9.37 to 193.95 mME / ml and varied 20.7 times (p = 0.3). The median concentration in the main group was 64.49 mME / ml (41.96; 118.16 mME / ml) and 1.36 times higher than the results of the comparison group, which were 47.16 mME / ml (18.15; 90.94 mME / ml). No statistically significant regularities were found between the concentration of erythropoietin and the indicators of ejaculate fertility (r <|0,3|).Conclusion. In oligoastenozoospermia, there is a tendency to increase the content of erythropoietin in the seminal plasma, which requires further research, taking into account a more detailed stratification of the groups examined for reasons that caused a decrease in the number of spermatozoa.

Keywords

• erythropoietin
• ejaculate
• seminal fluid
• oligoastenozoospermia
• male infertility