Predictive value of sperm arginine amidase enzyme in the outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer

Objective To examine the effects of arginine amidase activity variations to the in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycles. Methods The arginine amidase activity was analyzed for 349 IVF-ET cycles, there were 162 cycles with high arginine amidase activity and 187 cycles with low arginine amidase activity. We evaluated the rates of fertilization, cleavage, quality embryos of IVF, and biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, abortion and live birth of fresh embryos transfer cycles. Results The fertilization rate was significantly higher in high arginine amidase activity group (78.74%) than low activity group (76.07%, P 0.05). There were no significant difference in the rates of normal fertilization and quality embryos. The rates of clinical pregnancy (58.75%) and live birth (52.50%) were significantly higher in high arginine amidase activity group than in low group (44.00%, P 0.05). Conclusion The sperm arginine amidase activity may affect the fertilization of IVF-ET. It helps predicting the outcome of fresh embryos transfer cycles. Key words: Sperm; Arginine amidase; In vitro fertilization; Embryos transfer; Pregnancy