From: Utility of antioxidants during assisted reproductive techniques: an evidence based review
Antioxidant | Study type | Patient population | Intervention (therapeutic approach) | Control group (daily dose) | Outcome/effect of intervention/effect on parameters | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vitamin E | Prospective | Sperm from normozoospermic and asthenozoospermic men | 5Â mM vitamin E added to cryoprotective media prior to freeze-thaw procedure | Â | 1. Improvement in post-thaw motility | Kalthur et al. [57] |
2. Improvement in DNA integrity | ||||||
Vitamin E | Prospective | Sperm from normozoospermic men and men with abnormal sperm parameters | 100 μmol or 200 μmol vitamin E added to cryopreservation media |  | Improved post-thaw motility of cryopreserved sperm from men with both normal and abnormal sperm parameters | Taylor et al. [58] |
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) | Prospective | Sperm from teratozoospermic men (n = 15) | Sperm prepared by swim up incubated with 40 μmol alpha-tocopherol added to media x 1 hour |  | 1. Improved sperm motility | Keshtgar et al. [59] |
2. Increased sperm viability | ||||||
Vitamin C | Prospective | Sperm from male volunteers with teratozoospermia (n = 15) | Sperm prepared by swim up incubated with 600 μmol vitamin C added to media x 1 hour |  | 1. Reduced MDA levels | Fanaei et al. 2014 [60] |
2. Reduced DNA damage | ||||||
3. Improved sperm progressive motility | ||||||
4. Improved sperm viability | ||||||
Vitamin C | Prospective | DNA damaged sperm from infertile men | 10Â mM ascorbic acid added to semen sample prior to adding cryomedia | Unsupplemented cryomedium | 1. No change in post-thaw sperm concentration or morphology | Branco et al. [61] |
2. Reduced number of sperm with cryopreservation-induced DNA damage in infertile men | ||||||
Vitamin C | Prospective | Sperm from patients undergoing semen analysis (n = 134) | Supplementation of cryomedium with ascorbate or 100 μmol/L AA2G (ascorbic acid-2-glucoside) (stabilized form of ascorbate) | Unsupplemented cryomedium | Improved post-thaw sperm motility | Jenkins et al. [62] |
Coenzyme Q 10 | Prospective | Sperm from asthenozoospermic men (n = 22) | HAM’s medium alone, HAM’s medium +1% DMSO, HAM’s medium +5 μM CoQ10 or 50 μM CoQ10 x 24 hours | Samples with normal motility sperm (n = 16) | 50 μM CoQ10 increased sperm motility of asthenozoopsermic men in vitro | Lewin & Lavon [63] |
Melatonin | Experimental | Sperm from both healthy and infertile men (n = 12) | Sperm co-incubated with 1 mM melatonin x 30 minutes | No treatment | 1. Increased percentage of motile and progressively motile cells | Ortiz et al. [64] |
2. Increased sperm vitality and sperm with normal morphology | ||||||
Melatonin | Experimental | Sperm from healthy men (n = 12) | Sperm co-incubated with 2 mM melatonin x 120 minutes | No treatment | 1. Higher percentage of motility and progressive motility | du Plessis et al. [65] |
2. Increased sperm viability | ||||||
L-Carnitine | Experimental | Peritoneal fluid from women with endometriosis | Frozen metaphase II mouse oocytes and embryos in peritoneal fluid (from endometriosis patients) incubated with 0.6Â mg/mLÂ L-Carnitine | Peritoneal fluid (from endometriosis patients) only, peritoneal fluid (from tubal ligation patients as control) only, human tubal fluid only, L-carnitine only | 1. Improved microtubule and chromosome structure in oocyte | Mansour et al. [66] |
2. Decreased level of embryo apoptosis | ||||||
L-Carnitine | Experimental | Embryo | 0.3Â mg/mL or 0.6Â mg/mLÂ L-Carnitine | Embryo culture medium without supplementation | 1. Improved percentage of blastocyst development rate with 0.3Â mg/mLÂ L-carnitine | Abdelrazik et al. [67] |
2. Both 0.3Â mg/mL and 0.6Â mg/mLÂ L-carnitine reduced the blocking effect of actinomycin-D, hydrogen peroxide or tumor necrosis factor alpha and reduced the level of DNA damage |