Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue. 2022 Dec;28(12):1113-1118.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of pricking-reinforcing -reducing therapy (PRRT) on the semen quality and seminal plasma biochemical indexes of varicocele (VC) infertility patients.
METHODS: We randomly and equally assigned 160 patients with VC infertility into a PRRT and a control group, the former treated by PRRT and the latter with oral ShengjingCapsules. Before and after treatment, we obtained the semen parameters, sperm morphology, sperm survival rate, sperm acrosin activity, seminal plasma neutral α glucosidase and seminal plasma zinc in the patients and compared them between the two groups.
RESULTS: Before treatment, there were no statistically significant differences between the PRRT and control groups in sperm concentration (［16.81 ± 7.83］ vs ［16.80 ± 7.54］ ×106 /ml, P > 0.05), total sperm count (［42.01 ± 19.57］ vs ［41.99 ± 18.84］ ×106, P > 0.05), percentages of progressively motile sperm (PMS) (［15.37 ± 11.03］% vs ［14.68 ± 10.27］%, P > 0.05) and morphologically normal sperm ( MNS) (1.62 ± 1.51］% vs ［1.62 ± 1.13］%, P > 0.05), sperm survival rate (［28.11 ± 18.95］% vs ［28.23±18.38］%, P > 0.05) and sperm acrosin activity (［28.11 ± 14.64］ vs ［27.19 ± 14.07］ U/L, P > 0.05). After three months of treatment, all the patients showed evident increases in the above parameters (P < 0.05), even higher in the PRRT than in the control group, more significantly in sperm concentration (［38.88 ± 30.54］ vs ［25.60 ± 14.71］ ×106 /ml, P < 0.05), PMS (［32.60 ± 12.46］% vs ［27.67 ± 12.27］%, P < 0.05) and sperm acrosin activity (［65.74±31.81］ vs ［67.94±17.95］ U/L, P < 0.05), though not significantly in total sperm count (97.20 ± 76.35］ vs ［88.19 ± 39.56］ ×106, P > 0.05), MNS (［2.35 ± 1.83］% vs ［1.87 ± 1.20］%, P > 0.05) and sperm survival rate (［61.44 ± 20.02］% vs ［59.12 ± 22.48］%, P > 0.05). Compared with the baseline, after treatment, the patients in the PRRT group also exhibited elevated levels of neutral α-glucosidase (［14.42 ± 5.90］ vs ［28.43 ± 19.76］ U/L, P < 0.05) and seminal plasma zinc (［2.11 ± 1.22］ vs ［2.89 ± 1.23］ mmol/L, P < 0.05), and so did the controls (［14.44 ± 5.61］ vs ［26.66 ± 17.69］ U/L , P < 0.05) and (［2.09 ± 1.10］ vs ［2.82±1.08］ mmol/L, P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference, however, was observed between the two groups after treatment (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: PRRT can significantly improve semen quality in patients with VC infertility, even more effective than ShengjingCapsules in improving sperm concentration, PMS, sperm survival rate, and sperm acrosin activity, which may be related to its effect of elevating the levels of seminal plasma neutral-α glucosidase and zinc providing sufficient energy for basic sperm metabolism, maturation, energy acquisition and motility.
PMID:37846632
