Sperm/cervical-mucus crossed hostility testing and antisperm antibodies in the husband

Abstract

The behaviour of sperms has been investigated in preovulatory cervical mucus in 44 infertile couples. In 22 couples, immobilising and agglutinating autoantibodies were detected in the husband's sera in high titres. In 10 couples, antisperm antibodies were detected in the husbands by indirect immunofluorescent testing. In 12 couples, no evidence of antisperm antibodies was found in either husbands or wives. The results obtained with husband and wife were compared with the behaviour of the husband's sperms in cervical mucus from fertile donors, and with the behaviour of sperms from fertile donors in the wives' mucus. This crossed hostility test indicated that high tires of immobilising and agglutinating antisperm antibodies in the husband effectively prevented the sperms from penetrating the cervical mucus, even though the sperms appeared normal on seminal analysis. Antibodies detected by indirect immunofluorescence did not have this effect. Poor penetration was also observed with low sperm motility or poor cervical mucus. It is concluded that this test, taken with the postcoital test, could provide a useful screen for immunological causes of infertility and an accurate test for the clinical relevance of antisperm antibody tests.