Effectiveness of pentoxifylline in semen preparation for intrauterine insemination

Pentoxifylline, an inhibitor of cAMP phosphodiesterase activity, favours intracellular cAMP concentration increase. In-vitro treatment of semen with pentoxifylline leads to marked augmentation of sperm motility, enhancement of acrosome reaction, increase of sperm penetration into zona-free hamster oocytes, and protection of the sperm plasma membrane. Such properties indicate that the drug may be a useful tool for semen preparation in assisted reproduction, but its real effectiveness in improving fertilization rates is still uncertain, mainly in association with intrauterine insemination (IUI). Theoretically sperm motility should play an extremely important role for positive results in IUI. Therefore a retrospective clinical trial was planned in order to evaluate whether addition of pentoxifylline to the previously standardized in-vitro treatment of semen had improved the percentage of pregnancies after homologous IUI. The study involved 55 sterile couples (33 classified infertile for m...