Microbiological Diagnosis of Male Fertility beyond Semen Analysis

Delivery of genetic materials to the female ovum is the singular purpose of sperm cells production and existence. They are unencumbered by some normal cellular organelles, such as the ribosome, nucleoli, rough endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi apparatus. The sperm cell structure is divided into the headpiece, middle piece, principal and the tail or flagellum. The genetic materials are located in the headpiece(X and Y chromosomes). Semen analysis is cardinal for the diagnosis and treatment of some infertility cases but in some complicit cases where the causes of the infertility are not established with the traditional method, it becomes paramount to go beyond the conventional semen analysis. Some bacteriological investigations such as semen culture, urethral swab culture, and urine culture are also employed to rule out infection which could be a source of a tubal blockage and anti-sperm antibodies. DNA fragmentation test, flowcytometer, sperm quality analyzer (SQA-V), intact cell MALDI-TOF MS (ICM-MS) are methods utilized to study the genetic details of the sperm cell. With the advancement in technology, it becomes clearer that there are many other factors apart from the sperm density, motility, morphology and vitality that may impact a deleterious effect on male fertility. Therefore, it becomes imperative that some of these neglected biochemical markers are critically assessed and some sperm functional tests employed to further evaluate "unexplained infertility" among men.

Keywords: Automation, DNA fragmentation, Male fertility, Microbiology, Molecular, Sperm