engleski

COBALAMIN AND HOLOTRANSCOBALAMIN IN HUMAN SEMINAL FLUID

Background: Some recent study supports the role of cobalamin in spermatogenesis and correlation with several sperm parameters. Cobalamin (vitamin B12) is bound to two proteins, transcobalamin and haptocorrin. Holotranscobalamin (also known as active B12 or holo-TC) is a metabolically active form of cobalamin, and this parameter showed promising results in early diagnosis of cobalamin deficiency. Aim: Objective of our work was to investigate association between concentration of cobalamin and holotranscobalamin in seminal plasma and some other semen parameters such as sperm count and sperm concentration. Methods: Semen samples were obtained from 39 males aged 20 to 48 years. After liquefaction, semen were analysed according to the WHO guidelines. Cobalamin and holotranscobalamin were measured using MEIA method (AXSYM, ABBOTT). Correlation parameters were assessed using the Pearson test. Results: While cobalamin showed good correlation with sperm count (r=0.5894, p=0.0001 with CI 0.3364 to 0.7630) and sperm concentration (r=0.5807, p=0.0001 with CI 0.3246 to 0.7574), holotranscobalamin showed poor correlation for these semen parameters (r=0.3385, p=0.0351 with CI 0.0257 to 0.5909 for sperm count and r=0.3916, p=0.0137 with CI 0.0868 to 0.6294 for sperm concentration). Conclusions: Good correlation between seminal plasma cobalamin and sperm count and sperm concentrations supports the role of this vitamin in spermatogenesis. However, poor correlation obtained for holotranscobalamin could be a result of shorter half-life of holotranscobalamin complex compared to holohaptocorrin complex.

cobalamin ; transcobalamin ; seminal fluid

nije evidentirano