Application of Sperm Selection Using Hyaluronic Acid Binding in Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Cycles: A Sibling Oocyte Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sperm selection by hyaluronic acid (HA) binding could improve fertilization rate and embryo quality in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. Two hundred nineteen oocytes obtained from eighteen women were injected with either HA-bound (n = 107) or conventionally selected spermatozoa (n = 112) in a randomized way. All of the participants were infertile couples who had normal sperm parameters but low fertilization rate in previous in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle (n = 5) or experienced multiple IVF failures (n = 13). Lower fertilization (75.7% vs 83.0%) and cleavage rate on day 2 (72.9% vs 83.0%) was observed in oocytes injected with HA-bound spermatozoa than the conventional group, but the difference was not significant. Significantly lower cleavage rate was observed on day 3 in HA group (56.0% vs 69.6%, P = 0.038). Blastocyst formation rate and the number of transferred embryos were similar in both groups. In multiple IVF failure patients, significantly reduced fertilization rate (71.8% vs 85.3%, P = 0.046) and cleavage rate on day 2 (70.4% vs 85.3%, P = 0.029) and day 3 (53.5% vs 77.3%, P = 0.002) were noticed in HA group. Five women achieved pregnancy continuing more than 12 weeks after transfer (27.8%). Success of ICSI was not related with the number of embryos fertilized by HA-bound spermatozoa. Application of ICSI by sperm selection using HA binding is not helpful in couples with repeated poor fertilization or implantation despite normal sperm parameters.

A prospective randomized study to evaluate the effect of hyaluronic acid sperm selection on the intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome of patients with unexplained infertility having normal semen parameters

“…Our study was undertaken in the hope to identify patient populations where unnecessary PICSI could be avoided. The basic premise of our study was similar to the study carried out by Choe et al [18] who investigated the efficacy of HA sperm selection in a specific patient group with previous poor fertilizations or repeated implantation failures despite having normal semen parameters. The authors reported no benefit in terms of fertilization or embryo quality in such patients.…”

Is sperm hyaluronic acid binding ability predictive for clinical success of intracytoplasmic sperm injection: PICSI vs. ICSI?

“…In two further reports, no association was found between HA binding and FR, fragmentation, and embryo quality though they used washed sperm [Choe et al 2012;Tarozzi et al 2009]. In another report the clinical outcome of sperm functional assays including HBA was studied [Nijs et al 2009].…”

Zeta and hyaluronic acid assessments, novel sperm selection procedures, in animal model for male infertility

“…Based on these facts, recently, the HABM and ZPP have been bolded as two methods, which are able to potentially recover the spermatozoa with lower DNA damage and higher chromatin condensation (Chan et al, ; Choe et al, ; Hossein Nasr Esfahani et al, ; Parmegiani, Cognigni, Ciampaglia, et al, ; Razavi et al, ). In this line, it is shown that the spermatozoa with a binding ability to HA represent a uniform normal shape (Razavi et al, ).…”

“…Over the past decade, the zeta preparation procedure (ZPP) and HA‐binding method (HABM) have considered as more effective methods in assisting technology (Chan, Jacobson, Corselli, & Patton, ; Choe et al, ; Hossein Nasr Esfahani, Deemeh, Tavalaee, Sekhavati, & Gourabi, ; Parmegiani, Cognigni, Ciampaglia, et al, ). Indeed, hyaluronic acid (HA) is a member of the glycosaminoglycan family, which it is highly detectable in the extracellular matrix of the cumulus oophorus.…”