Role of Platelet-Rich Plasma to Sperm Quality in Male Partners Undergoing Infertility Treatment

Recently, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been widely used to treat women with infertility, but is rarely used in men with similar conditions. Several studies have shown that the hormones and growth factors contained in PRP may benefit sperm. The role of PRP on sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and DFI was tested on 40 male couples (who underwent infertility treatment from April-May 2021) with a pretest-posttest design. Semen samples were collected from each patient to assess sperm and DFI parameters, and 5 mL blood samples were taken for PRP. These parameters were compared between fresh samples and samples incubated with PRP for 1 hour. The results showed that the semen samples incubated with PRP produced significantly better quality (p=0.000) in terms of concentration (28.40±17.66 million/mL vs 35.74±21.37 million/mL), motility (37.90±15.43% vs. 97.40±1.17%.), progressive motility (0.30±0.65% vs. 23.92±14.75%), morphology (2.65±0.66% vs. 4.55±0.99%), and percentage of sperm with good fertilization (65% vs 97.5%). These results suggest that incubation of semen samples with PRP may be considered as a treatment option for men with abnormal semen parameters undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles, such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).