Acrosin activity of human sperm did not correlate with IVF

To evaluate the predicting value of sperm acrosin activity in human, the acrosin activity index (AAI) was measured in 95 semen samples from patients participating in an IVF program. All patients had at least two mature oocytes. Of 95 patients, 84 had successful fertilization and 11 failed to fertilize all oocytes in vitro. The numbers of mature oocytes were similar between fertilization and nonfertilization groups. The mean AAI, measured using a commercially available (Accu-Sperm) acrosin activity assay, was greater in the fertilization group than in the nonfertilization group, but the difference was not significant. There was no correlation between AAI and the in vitro fertilization rate of mature oocytes. The relation between AAI and semen parameters also showed no significant difference. It would appear that measurement of AAI inaccurately reflects in vitro fertilizability of human sperm.