Objective: To investigate sperm function indexes that can be used to effectively evaluate the sperm donors' fertility so as to select healthy post-thaw semen samples and improve the success rate of assisted reproductive technology.
Methods: According to the pregnancy outcomes, we divided 40 donor semen samples into a high-fertility group (n = 20) and a low-fertility group (n = 20). We measured and compared the concentration, progressive motility, morphology, acrosome intactness, DNA integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of the post-thaw sperm between the two groups.
Results: There were statistically significant differences between the high- and low-fertility groups in the percentages of morphologically normal sperm ([18.50 +/- 6.10]% vs [14.42 +/- 6.44]%, P < 0.01), acrosome intactness ([86.17 +/- 4.49]% vs [80.04 +/- 7.52]%, P < 0.05) and DNA fragmentation index ([9.21 +/- 3.22]% vs [15.72 +/- 8.20]%, P < 0.05), but not in MMP ([56.75 +/- 18.80]% vs [52.23 +/- 18.86]%, P > 0.05). A significantly positive correlation was found between MMP and sperm motility (r = 0.760, P < 0.05), but not between other sperm functions and sperm concentration and motility.
Conclusion: Sperm concentration, motility, morphology, acrosome intactness rate and DNA integrity contribute effectively to the evaluation of the fertilization capacity of post-thaw donor semen samples.