Relationships between spermogram indexes in males with chronic bacterial prostatitis and the levels of local antimicrobial factors

Sperm quality can be directly or indirectly affected in chronic bacterial prostatitis, due to protein components of mucosal immunity, including lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin A, and lysozyme. Therefore, a search for relationships between spermogram indices and levels of antimicrobial factors in sperm plasma presents an urgent task in healthy men and patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis. The present paper contains the results of a study of sperm samples from 72 men aged 20 to 45 years. Samples were collected in sterile containers by masturbation after a minimum abstinence period of 3-5 days. None of the patients had previously taken antibiotics. Patients with sexually transmitted infections were excluded from the study. The patients were divided into two groups — conditionally healthy males (n = 30) and patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis (n = 42). Seminal plasma was obtained by two-stage centrifugation of ejaculate samples (1000-3000 rpm) for 30 minutes. Evaluation of lactoferrin and secretory immunoglobulin A levels in seminal plasma was carried out by ELISA technique (Vector-Best, Novosibirsk), lysozyme — by turbidimetric method. The results were recorded with Multiscan Labsystems photometer (Finland) at 492-nm wavelength. Statistical evaluation of the obtained data was carried out using Statistica 10 package (StatSoft, USA). To assess the kind of relationships between the studied parameters, the Spearman's rank correlation quotient was applied. When using the Spearman rankcorrelation approach, the strength of the relationships between the features was assessed, considering the values of < 0.3 as a weak connection; quotient levels of 0.4 to 0.7 as indexes of moderate relationships, and values of 0.7 and more, as high connection indexes.

We have found that an increased level of lactoferrin in some cases of leukocytospermia, oligospermia, and asthenospermia is accompanied by decreased number of leukocytes, increased sperm motility, preservation of sperm morphology, thus suggesting improvement of the sperm quality. Considering universal biological properties of lactoferrin and its receptors, an increased number of positive correlations between level lactoferrin level and spermogram parameters was shown in the patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis, as compared with healthy males, thus presuming high diagnostic value of this marker. Hence, diagnostic value of spermogram parameters is determined not only by their quantitative values, but also by the types of correlations with antimicrobial factor levels, in particular, with those of lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin A and lysozyme.