Background: Seminal fructose is derived from the seminal vesicle and is therefore a suitable marker for its function. Fructose is the energy source for sperm and may have an importance in pathological conditions of semen, e.g. in asthenozoospermia. Objective: To find out if there is a correlation between seminal plasma fructose level and sperm concentration and motility in infertile Iraqi men. In addition, the study assessed the reliability of using seminal fructose concentration as indicator of seminal vesicles function. Patients and Methods: Forty six infertile men, free from infectious disease or endocrine disorders, were selected for the study. Control group, selected from couples with proven male fertility, were 10 fertile men. Semen samples, collected from theses fertile and infertile men, were analyzed for general seminal fluid examination and fructose concentration determination. Results: Seminal fructose has been noticed to have significant negative correlations with sperm count, with percentage of motile sperm and with absolute number of motile sperms. These negative correlations may be due to increased rate of fructolysis with higher sperm count and motility or due to an endocrine cause related to relatively high FSH in infertile men. To use seminal plasma fructose as a marker for seminal vesicles function, a correction for the opposing factors that affect fructose level such as sperm count and motility is carried out. Corrected seminal fructose is positively correlated with the total number of motile sperm. Furthermore, a positive correlation between true corrected fructose and the percentage as well as the total number of motile sperm has been found. Conclusion: Seminal fructose level has an inverse correlation with sperm count and percentage and number of motile sperm in the study group. Seminal fructose is a good marker of seminal vesicle function after using the correction formulae.
Background: Tannery work share exposure to solvents and chemicals , which has been linked with inverse pregnancy and fertility outcomes in human being as reported in some studies . Objective: The current study aimed to through some light on the harmful pollutant chemicals effect on tannery workers reproductive health. Literature in this portion are rare in Iraq, so it had been tested the hypotheses that leather workers suffered from male infertility parameters due to the continuous exposure to chemicals that used in this industry. Subjects, Materials and Methods: This study included 60 subjects can divided into 2 groups: 30 males as study group and 30 males as control group, the period of study was between October 2014 to April 2016, the samples were taken from tanneries workers from various governorates of Iraq. Results: The data clearly showed a significant infertility parameters among these workers represented by low total sperm number, low sperm activity the significance levels were within the value of P ≤0.05 accompanied with a significant high seminal fructose. Conclusion: The main conclusion was that chronic exposure to these chemicals in tannery workers especially Cr VI and N,N-dimethyle form amide may cause male infertility parameters.