synergistic protection of l-arginine and vitamin e on lipid peroxidation of asthenospermic patients

background: lipid peroxidation is known to cause various impairments to sperm cells and may play a major role in the etiology of male infertility. asthenospermia is the main factor of male infertility and has significantly higher level of peroxidation than in normozoospermic males. materials and methods: using thiobarbituric acid (tba) assay procedure, we have determined the level of lipid peroxidation as indicated by malondialdehyde (mda) in the spermatozoa obtained from asthenospermic male semen. results: an inverse correlation of mda concentration with sperm motility is observed. treatment of cells with l-arginine and vitamin e significantly decreases the mda concentration and improves the sperm motility as compared to that in case of control samples. a combination of l-arginine and vitamin e shows synergistic effect on sperm motility and prevention of lipid peroxidation. conclusion: l-arginine and vitamin e protect the cells against the loss of sperm motility by lipid peroxidation. therefore, supplementation of both l-arginine and vitamin e may improve sperm motility and increase the possibility of fertilization in asthenospermic subjects.