relation between different sperm nuclear maturity tests and in vitro fertilization

introduction: standard semen analysis is routinly used to evaluate the male fertility, however some researchers belive that sperm functional test should also be used with standard semen analysis for more precise evaluation of male fertility. the aim of this study was to consider the relation between different nuclear maturity tests and in vitro fertilization, in order to select the nuclear maturity test for prediction of invitro fertilization. materials and methods: 101 infertil couples were randomly selected form the ivf candidate referring to isfahan fertility and infertility centre. semen samples were collected on the day of oocyte recovery. major portions of the semen were prepared for routine ivf insemination and the rest was used for following sperm nuclear maturity tests: chromomycin a3 (cma3), simple acridine orange test- with heat shock, aniline blue and sds-test. 200 sperm were evaluvated for each test. the result of each test was recorded and were analyzed for its relation to fertilization rate using correlation coefficient, logistic regression analysis, student's t-test and roc curve. results: among these tests only cma3 and aniline blue showed a signigicant correlation coeficient with in vitro fertilization. how ever, using logistic regression analysis only cma3 analysis was the independent factor related to in vitro fertilization rate. the results of student's t-test between fertilizing and non-fertilizing groups was also only significant for cma3. the area under roc curves suggest that cma3 is the most spicific and sensitive test among these nuclear maturity tests. conclusion: this study shows that cma3 is the most specific and sensitive test among other nuclear maturity tests and independently related to the in vitro fertilization rate. therefore, cma3 analysis can be used as a nuclear maturity test along with standard semen analysis for prediction of male infertility.