CORRELATION OF SERUM AND SEMINAL PLASMA ANTI-MULLERIAN HORMONE WITH FERTILITY HORMONES PROFILE AND SEMEN PARAMETERS

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced by the Sertoli cells and present in the blood serum and seminal fluid of adult males. While it has been proposed as an indicator of spermatogenesis, the precise role of this marker in adult males remains mainly unidentified.

Objective: The aimed of this study was to explore the potential correlation between AMH levels in serum and seminal plasma with sperm parameters and fertility hormones profile such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), total testosterone (T), and prolactin hormone (PRL) in infertile men

Study design, setting, size, duration: This study included 100 males who were classified according to seminal fluid analysis into 25 patients with normozoospermia, 26 patients with oligozoospermia, 21 patients with asthenozoospermia, and 28 patients with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT). Individuals who visited a private andrology clinic in Al Najaf, Iraq, for male infertility consultations between October 2023 and November 2023 submitted specimens.

Participants/materials, methods: The mean age of the participants was 30.85 ± 0.70 years, and their BMI was 27.60 ± 0.58 kg/m2. Semen quality was evaluated by semen analysis according to the guidelines of the World Health Organization for semen analysis in 2021. AMH levels in seminal plasma and serum, along with levels of FSH, LH, T, and PRL, were analyzed using the ELISA technique. We first examined total AMH in semen and blood with total values of semen characteristics and hormones profile, then the association between serum and semen AMH was assessed with sperms parameters and FSH, LH, T and PRL according to the four study groups separately.

Results: Total seminal plasma AMH showed a positive correlation with the total values for sperm concentration, sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm morphology. Additionally, there was a positive correlation between total serum AMH and total FSH. However, serum and semen AMH were not associated with semen parameters nor with hormones profile in all study groups, except for a positive association between testosterone and semen AMH in the oligospermia group.

Conclusion: levels of seminal plasma in this study, AMH showed a significant inter-individual difference. AMH in seminal plasma may serve as a marker for immature sertoli cells and spermatogenesis.