Effects of pentoxifylline on sperm motion characteristics in normozoospermic men defined by a computer-aided sperm analysis

This study was conducted to determine whether pentoxifylline has an in vitro effect on sperm motion characteristics in normozoospermic men. The subjects of the study were 15 male volunteers. After the spermatozoa were washed with mBWW medium, the sperm suspension was divided into two aliquots: one was treated with 1 mg/ml pentoxifylline, the other was used as a control. The sperm motion characteristics were examined by an HT-M2030 at 30, 60, 120, 180, 240 and 300 min during continuous exposure to the drug. As results, pentoxifylline increased the curvilinear velocity and the lateral head displacement. However, it did not affect sperm motility, the straight line velocity. Pentoxifylline may improve sperm fertilizing ability by altering the characteristics of sperm motion, not by increasing the number of motile spermatozoa.