Abstract
Purpose:Our purpose was to measure sperm creatine phosphokinase (CK) activity, which reflects cytoplasmic retention in immature spermatozoa, in normospermic and oligozospermic Hungarian men.
Methods:A study of 109 randomly selected men in a university-based andrology laboratory was done.
Results:CK activity differed between normospermic and oligozospermic men (0.21 ± 0.02 vs. 1.19 ± 0.15 CK IU/108sperm; n = 56 and n = 53; mean ± standard error of the mean, respectively). There was an inverse correlation between sperm concentration and CK activity (r = −0.70; n = 109). However, 28% of men in the range with less than 10 million sperm/ml had normal sperm CK activity (below the mean + 2 standard deviations of the group with greater than 30 × 106sperm/ml), whereas 36% of men in the group with 20–30 million sperm/ml and 5% in the group with greater than 30 million sperm/ml had elevated CK activities, indicating that the incidence of mature and immature spermatozoa in specimens is independent from the sperm concentrations.
Conclusions:The improved facility of sperm CK activity measurements, compared with sperm concentrations, in the assessment of sperm maturity was confirmed in a Hungarian population. The CK measurements aid the selection of the most efficient treatment for couples with male-factor or unexplained infertility, particularly when considering the options of intrauterine insemination, varicocelectomy followed by a waiting period, or ovulation workup/induction in wives of men who are oligozospermic but may have fertile sperm.
Keywords: creatine kinase, male fertility, unexplained, maturity, biochemical markers
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