CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ATP LEVELS OF HUMAN SPERMATOZOA AND CLASSICAL SEMEN PARAMETERS
VLADIMIR STAYKOV1*, TODOR CHAUSHEV1, SILVIYA GOGEVA2, DIMITAR PARVANOV2,
GUEORGUI STAMENOV2, BALIK DZHAMBAZOV1
1 – Department of Developmental Biology, Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2 – Nadezhda, Women’s Health Hospital, 3 “Blaga vest” Street, Sofia, Bulgaria
* Corresponding author: staykovladimir@gmail.com
Keywords: adenosine triphosphate (ATP), human spermatozoa, semen parameters, IVF/ICSI procedure
Abstract: The main focus of this study was to estimate whether there is a correlation between adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels in human spermatozoa and classical semen parameters. Native sperm from 98 patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure was used for ATP determination. The concentration and motility were automatically detected with CASA (Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis). Evaluation of morphology was performed according to Tygerberg-Kruger strict criteria. ATP concentration in sperm was measured by a bioluminescence assay. The statistical analyzes were done by using SPSS 21.0.
Our data showed a statistically significant correlation between ATP levels and concentration, motility, viscosity and morphology of the spermatozoa. ATP amount per sperm was found to be positively correlated with active spermatozoa motility (class A: R=0.456; class B: R=0.393), concentration (R=0.396) and morphology (R=0.245). A negative correlation between ATP levels and viscosity was observed (R= -0.321).
Patients with high ATP levels have better sperm morphology, higher concentration and motility and lower viscosity. Thus, it is concluded that the ATP concentration in human spermatozoa may serve as a potential physiological biomarker in combination with classical sperm parameters.