Contents lists available at BioMedSciDirect Publications Journal homepage: www.biomedscidirect.com International Journal of Biological & Medical Research Int J Biol Med Res. 2014; 5(4): 4550-4553 Impact of spermiogram and sperm function test in idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss Papanna Kavitha , Thammaiah P Chaithra, Gopalappa Sreenivasa and Suttur S.Malini Molecular Reproductive and Human Genetics Laboratory, Department of Studies in Zoology, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore-570006 A R T I C L E I N F O ABSTRACT Keywords: Recurrent pregnancy loss semen parameters sperm function test paternal age Original Article BioMedSciDirect Publications International Journal of BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL RESEARCH www.biomedscidirect.com Int J Biol Med Res INTRODUCTION Copyright 2010 BioMedSciDirect Publications IJBMR - All rights reserved. ISSN: 0976:6685. c Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) also known as recurrent miscarriage or recurrent abortion, is traditionally defined as occurrence of three or more consecutive pregnancy failures in the first or early second trimester of gestation. [1] RPL is growing clinical problem for clinicians and patients that needs adequate attention and investigations. Approximately 15-20% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions. Most losses occur at the time of implantation. Only 30% of all conceptions result in a live birth. [2] The risk of miscarriage is 43.7% after two previous losses, 44.6% after three and 61.9% after four losses. [3] This suggests a need for evaluation after two losses in patients with no prior live births. An estimated 0.5 to 3% of the women in reproductive age experiences RPL and between 50-60% of these losses are idiopathic. [4] The etiologies of RPL include parental chromosomal anomalies, endocrine, uterine malformations, haematological and autoimmune factors. Several studies have related these condition with women owing that the relation exist only between mother and the developing embryo. Attempts have been made to show the relation between RPL and sperm quality but it remains controversial. [5] Evidences are available in literature that paternal genome effects early embryonic development, sperm integrity vital for sperm-egg interaction and fertilization, and it provides the centromere in the first mitotic division after fertilization. [6, 7] Though one half of the genetic material is contributed by paternal genome to embryo it has been poorly evaluated in RPL subjects. Evaluation of paternal factor in RPL involves chromosomal analysis alone. Dewan et al [8] has reported that semen analysis is not usually part of the initial assessment for RPL because it is generally carried out in infertility evaluations. Basic semen analyses do not provide the much information regarding the functional competence and reproductive potential. Aims: To evaluate the role of sperm factors in idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss cases. Methods: We recruited 100 male subjects where their female partners experienced 2 or more idiopathic pregnancy losses. Recurrent pregnancy loss males to -Male partners of females with Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) . males were grouped into two groups RPL1 individuals having 2 abortion and RPL2 individuals having more than 2 abortions. Fifty volunteers who have fathered child/children prior to the study without the history of recurrent pregnancy loss and unassisted pregnancies were considered as control group. Further we grouped RPL males into two caterogies according to thier age below 35 and above 35 years to analyse the influence of age on RPL. Routine semen parameters and sperm function test were performed for all the subjects. Statistical analysis was performed using Independent- Samples T test. Results: Insignificant differences were observed in seminal volume, pH, motility and sperm count but Vitality test scores were significantly lesser in both the RPL groups when compared to control group however, insignificant differences were observed in seminal volume, pH, motility and sperm count. For all three sperm function test both the RPL group showed lesser scores when compare to control. RPL2 group showed more abnormalities when compared to RPL1 group. We did not identify any significant difference for any of the parameters between two age group of RPL males. Conclusion: Based on our result we recommend the screening of both partners simultaneous in RPL cases for the better diagnosis and treatment. Assistant Professor, Department of Studies in Zoology, Manasagangotri,Mysore-570009. Karnataka, India. Email: drssmalini@gmail.com ssmalinisri@yahoo.co.in * Corresponding Author : Dr. Suttur S.Malini Copyright 2010 BioMedSciDirect Publications. All rights reserved. c