OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the clinical effect of acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine in the treatment of oligozoospermia/asthenozoospermia.

METHODS:Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of oligozoospermia/asthenozoospermia published up to February 15, 2019 were searched from databases of CNKI, CBM, Wanfang Data, VIP, PubMed, Embase, and The Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently performed quality assessment and data extraction of the studies, and RevMan5.3 was used to perform the meta-analysis.

RESULTS:A total of 13 articles with 12 RCTs were included, with a total of 1 183 patients. The meta-analysis showed that acupuncture combined with TCM achieved a significantly higher pregnancy rate than TCM alone in the treatment of oligozoospermia/asthenozoospermia(risk ratio []＝1.46, 95% confidence interval []: 1.13－1.90，＝0.004). The patients treated with acupuncture combined with TCM had a significantly higher effective rate than those treated with TCM alone (＝1.17, 95%：1.10－1.24,<0.000 01). Compared with TCM alone, acupuncture combined with TCM achieved significantly better improvements in sperm survival rate (mean difference []＝8.28, 95%: 6.48－10.08,<0.000 01), sperm motility (＝17.01, 95%：11.06－22.96,<0.000 01), sperm concentration (＝8.71, 95%：5.92－11.50,<0.000 01), and number of grade A sperms (＝6.39, 95%：5.27－7.50,<0.000 01).

CONCLUSION:Acupuncture combined with TCM has a better clinical effect than TCM alone in the treatment of oligozoospermia/asthenozoospermia. Due to the low methodological quality of the studies included in this analysis, acupuncture combined with TCM in the treatment of oligozoospermia/asthenozoospermia should be used based on patients' conditions in clinical practice.

AIM:Among the factors contributing to male infertility, asthenospermia constitutes both a health and a social problem frequently associated with alterations in sexual function. Studies have shown that acetyl carnitine and L-arginine improve sperm motility and that ginseng enhances libido and sexual performance. This study examined the effect of treatment with carnitine, acetyl carnitine, L-arginine and ginseng in men with idiopathic asthenospermia and altered sexual function.

METHODS:The study population was 180 patients with asthenospermia randomly assigned to two groups: group A (90 men) received treatment and group B (90 men) did not. The sperm count was 16.6± 3.2 x 10⁶/mL and the total sperm motility was 26.5 ± 3.4%.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Sexual satisfaction was measured using the sexual satisfaction index (SSI). At the end of therapy, a significant improvement was observed in progressive sperm motility on spermiogram evaluation and in SSI scores in the treatment group.

OBJECTIVE:Aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin C on sperm parameters, sperm chromatin quality and apoptosis resulted of vitrification in neat semen and prepared spermatozoa of normozoospermic samples.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:Forty semen samples from normozoospermic men were included in this prospective study. Each sample was divided into five groups. Group I: control or fresh semen, group II: semen prepared by swim-up method and then vitrified, group III: neat semen was vitrified, group IV: vitamin C (600 μM) was added to prepared spermatozoa and then vitrified and group V: vitamin C (600 μM) was added to neat semen and then vitrified. After warming, sperm analysis was done accordingly. For evaluating the sperm chromatin/DNA integrity status and acrosome reaction, we used toluidine blue (TB), acridine orange (AO), terminal transferase mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate biotin end labeling (TUNEL) and double staining tests.

RESULTS:All of the sperm parameters (count, motility, morphology and viability) had significant differences (P < 0.05) between different groups, especially in group IV. Data showed sperm chromatin damages and acrosome reaction abnormality increased resulted of vitrification, but, in the groups that added vitamin C (IV, V) rate of damages was decreased and this was notable in the group IV.

CONCLUSION:Vitamin C can attenuate the detrimental effects of vitrification on sperm parameters, chromatin quality and rate of apoptosis in both neat semen and prepared spermatozoa of normozoospermic samples.