Objectives: To investigate the impact of α-chymotrypsin treatment on sperm recovery rate and total motile sperm count (TMC) in highly viscous semen for intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), particularly in cases of severely low sperm count.
Methods: High
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Objectives: To investigate the impact of α-chymotrypsin treatment on sperm recovery rate and total motile sperm count (TMC) in highly viscous semen for intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), particularly in cases of severely low sperm count.
Methods: High viscosity was defined by the inability to form a thread exceeding 2 cm from a semen drop after 30 min of incubation at 37 °C with repeated pipetting. Semen samples were treated with 5 mg of α-chymotrypsin for 5–10 min at 37 °C and washed using a 90% gradient solution. A total of 35 patients were included, with comparisons made to the same patients’ prior untreated samples using paired
t-tests. Severely low sperm count was classified as TMC below 10 million.
Results: Treatment with α-chymotrypsin significantly improved TMC (22.2 million vs. 11.6 million,
p = 0.0004) and motile sperm recovery rate (38.9% vs. 16.2%,
p = 0.00002). In cases of severely low sperm count, α-chymotrypsin treatment resulted in a marked increase in recovery rate (43.0% vs. 10.0%,
p = 0.02) and TMC (5.89 million vs. 1.21 million,
p = 0.004). Fertilization using treated samples achieved an 87.8% success rate, with a 56.4% usable blastocyst rate, comparable to standard IVF outcomes (
n = 9, average age = 34.9 years).
Conclusions: α-chymotrypsin treatment significantly enhances sperm recovery and TMC in highly viscous semen, demonstrating particular efficacy in patients with severely low sperm counts without affecting fertilization or blastocyst rate in IVF.
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