The effect of L-carnitine on sperm parameters in patients candidated for Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection

The etiologic cause in near one third of male factor infertility is unknown. Thepercentage of men with idiopathic infertility who have been successfully treated by the empiricaltherapeutic modalities is not high.

The aim of this study was to assay the effect of L-carnitine on sperm parameters inpatients who needs intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as a method for infertility treatment.

The study population consisted of 65 men (mean age± SD: 34.4 ± 6.07)presenting with primary infertility due to idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. L-carnitine wasprescribed 1gram orally every 8 hours for 3 months. Before and after the ending of the L-carnitinetreatment, semen analysis was performed.

The proportion of patients who had motile and grade C sperms rose significantly aftertreatment. Percentile of abnormal shaped sperms decreased significantly after treatment. Inapproximately 22%, complete asthenozoospermia changed to relative asthenozoospermia.

Appearing motile sperms will potentially improve the technique of ICSI. Themagnitude of the elevation in normal morphology is not clinically obvious, but it seems that it canbe important in obtaining normal-shaped sperms for intracytoplasmic injection.Designing a study on selected patients with complete asthenozoospermia who have not otherabnormalities in semen parameters can reveal the real effect of carnitine therapy in this category.