The “standard semen sample” is the first (and only) test that most men have for their fertility. While it doesn’t test to see if a man’s sperm can actually create a healthy pregnancy, it does check the crucial factors that (usually) indicate if a man is able to father a child naturally: Volume of semen Concentration o...
Male fertility is changing, and men are becoming less fertile and the average man produces less semen and fewer sperm per ml with each passing decade. Semen samples from men born in 1925 had about 4x the number of sperm compared to samples taken in 2005. ii When the size of semen samples is compared in the last century, there’s a clear t...
Male sexual function is much simpler than a woman’s, and it revolves around the single purpose of getting large numbers of healthy sperm to reach an egg. Most male sexual organs are outside (rather than inside) the pelvic cavity and consist of four parts: Testes (testicles) held in scrotal sacs Genital ducts Accessory glands The penis Fig 1...
Anti-sperm antibodies (ASAb) are a significant cause of infertility and affect between 9 and 36% of infertile couples i. They’re an immune response to sperm that tend to affect men more than women. The standard semen sample analysis can be extended to check for anti-sperm antibodies, and we recommend all men do this if possible. Men and ...
Genetic testing of sperm is appropriate when couples are having difficulty conceiving or have recurrent miscarriages. Genes are the DNA “code” that makes us unique and human. All cells carry genes on twisted strands of chromosomes, and they determine most things relating to our health and development. Half of a baby’s chromo...
DNA fragmentation is when bits of DNA on chromosomes separate or pieces of them break off, which causes disorganization within cells as DNA is the coding on our genes that “programme” all bodily functions. Having a complete and well-organised genetic code on chromosomes is crucial for health, and when two sets of chromosomes join a...
The Sperm Penetration Assay (SPA) checks to see if a man’s sperm can penetrate and fertilize eggs, and the SPA test is usually only performed when low IVF fertilization rates occur without any other explanation. For sperm to fertilize an egg, they need to physically bind with the outer layer of the egg cell (the zona pellucida) and then ...
