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From the * Center for Advanced Research in Human
Reproduction, Infertility and Sexual Function, Glickman Urological Institute,
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio;
Department of Urology, Tulane University, New
Orleans, Louisiana; and
Department of
Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland,
Ohio.
| Correspondence to: Dr Ashok Agarwal, Director, Center for Advanced Research in Human Reproduction, Infertility, and Sexual Function, Glickman Urological Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Ave, Desk A19.1, Cleveland, OH 44195 (e-mail: Agarwaa{at}ccf.org). |
| Received for publication February 19, 2003; accepted for publication April 17, 2003. |
| Abstract |
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Key words: Luminometer, semen, spectrophotometer, Trolox, reactive oxygen species
Several methods have been developed to measure TAC in biological fluids, such as the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (Cao and Prior, 1998), the ferric reducing ability (Benzie and Strain, 1996), and the phycoerythrin fluorescence-based assay (Glazer, 1990). The enhanced chemiluminescence assay, however, is the most commonly used method for measuring TAC in seminal fluid (Lewis et al, 1995; Kolettis et al, 1999; Sharma et al, 1999; Kobayashi et al, 2001; Pasqualotto et al, 2001; Sharma et al, 2001). The principle behind the enhanced chemiluminescent assay for TAC measurement is best described in the work by Whitehead et al (1992).
To perform the enhanced chemiluminescence assay, a signal reagent (luminol plus para-iodophenol), which is a source of chemiluminescence, is mixed with horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-linked immunoglobulin to produce ROS, which in turn is mixed with a substrate, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The power of the antioxidants in the seminal plasma to reduce the chemiluminescence of the signal reagent is compared with that of Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid), a water-soluble tocopherol analogue, and is measured as molar Trolox equivalents. Although accurate, this method is cumbersome and time-consuming, because fresh signaling reagent solution must be prepared each time the assay is performed and then standardized with Trolox. Moreover, the signal reagent may reduce in intensity, adding another technical problem. Finally, expensive instrumentation (eg, luminometer) is needed to measure the chemiluminescence, which means that this assay is often not readily available in a physician's office.
Miller et al (1993)
described another technique for TAC measurement based on colorimetry. This
assay is based on the principle that when
2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) is
incubated with a peroxidase (such as metmyoglobin) and
H2O2, a relatively stable radical cation,
ABTS+, is formed (see equation below). The formation of
ABTS+ on interaction with ferryl myoglobin produces a relatively
stable blue-green color, measured at 600 nm. Antioxidants in the fluid sample
suppress this color production to a degree that is proportional to their
concentrations.
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The main objective of our study was to determine whether the colorimetric method could be used in place of the enhanced chemiluminescence assay for measuring TAC in seminal fluid. We compared the values obtained with both assays and assessed the quality control parameters of the colorimetric method (ie, intra-assay and interassay variability in addition to intraobserver and interobserver differences).
| Materials and Methods |
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Sample Collection and Preparation![]()
The study consisted of 17 semen samples collected from normal healthy
donors. All the samples had normal semen parameters, ie, sperm concentration
of more than 20 million/mL, motility of more than 50%, and more than 30%
normal sperm morphology without any indication of leukocytospermia (white
blood cell count of <1 x 106/mL) according to World Health
Organization (1999)
guidelines. The samples were collected by masturbation after a period of
sexual abstinence of 48 to 72 hours. After liquefaction, the raw semen
specimens were centrifuged at 300 x g for 7 minutes. The
supernatant was aspirated and recentrifuged at 300 x g for 10
minutes. The seminal plasma was frozen at -70°C until further use.
The frozen seminal plasma was thawed by placing the vials in an incubator at 37°C for 20 minutes and immediately assessed for its antioxidant capacity. To assess the relationship between the chemiluminescence and colorimetric assay, specimens from 13 samples (of the total 17) were each divided in 2 aliquots. In aliquot 1, TAC was measured with the enhanced chemiluminescence assay (Saleh and Agarwal, 2002). In aliquot 2, TAC was measured with the colorimetric method using the Randox total antioxidant status kit (Randox Laboratories Ltd, San Francisco, Calif).
To establish the quality control parameters, the colorimetric assay was performed in all 17 samples in duplicate by the same observer (Figure 1, step I). The difference in duplicate measurements was used to calculate the intra-assay and the intraobserver variability. Subsequently, 16 aliquots of the seminal plasma from the same sample were assessed for TAC by 2 observers (4 times by each observer; 2 aliquots were used for each run of the spectrophotometer) (Figure 1, step II). The average of the duplicate readings was calculated, and the difference in the 4 averages for each observer was used to calculate the interobserver variability. The variability of the 4 averages for each observer was used to assess the interassay variability (Figure 1, step III).
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Enhanced Chemiluminescence Method for TAC Measurement of the Seminal
Plasma![]()
Seminal plasma from aliquot 1 was diluted 1:10 with deionized water
(dH2O) and filtered through a 0.20-µm millipore filter
(Allegiance Healthcare Corporation, McGraw Park, Ill). Signal reagent was
prepared by adding 30 µL of H2O2 (8.8 mol/L), 110
µL of luminol stock solution (3.1 mM), and 10 µL of paraiodophenol stock
solution (41.72 µM) to 10 mL of Tris buffer (0.1 M, pH 7.0)
(Saleh and Agarwal, 2002). The
HRP working solution was prepared from HRP stock solution by making a dilution
of 1:1 with dH2O to give the desired luminescence output (3 x
107 cpm).
Trolox (6-hydroxyl-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid), a water-soluble tocopherol analogue, was added as the standard at concentrations between 12.5 and 75 µM for TAC calibration. The antioxidant capacity of the seminal plasma was expressed in molar Trolox equivalents.
With the luminometer set in the kinetic mode, 100 µL of signal reagent and 100 µL of HRP working solution were added to 700 µL of dH2O and mixed. The solution was equilibrated to the desired level of chemiluminescent output (between 2 and 3 x 107 cpm) for 100 seconds. One hundred microliters of the seminal plasma was immediately added to the signal reagent and HRP, and the chemiluminescence was measured. Suppression of luminescence and the time from the addition of seminal plasma to 10% recovery of the initial chemiluminescence were recorded. The time of recovery was recorded and compared with the standard. The total antioxidant capacity was expressed as micromolar (µM) of Trolox equivalents.
Colorimetric Assay for TAC Measurement of the Seminal Plasma![]()
Seminal plasma from aliquot 2 was used to measure TAC. Twenty microliters
of seminal plasma was added to 1 mL of the reconstituted chromogen,
ABTS-metmyoglobin (10-mL vial with 10 mL of phosphate-buffered saline buffer).
Twenty microliters of Trolox
(6-hydroxyl-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid) at a concentration
of 1.73 mmol/L was used as the standard, whereas 20 µL of deionized water
was used as a blank. One milliliter of chromogen was added to the standard,
blank, and sample. With spectrophotometer adjusted at a wavelength of 600 nm
and with the temperature at 37°C, the initial absorbance (A1)
was measured. Two hundred microliters of H2O2 (250
µmol/L) was then added to all tubes (standard, blank, and sample), and
absorbance (A2) was measured exactly after 3 minutes. The
difference between A2 and A1 (
A) was calculated.
The TAC of the sample, in terms of Trolox equivalents, was then calculated by
the following formula: TAC = Concentration of the Standard x (
A
Blank -
A Sample)/(
A Blank -
A Standard). The results
were expressed as micromolar (µM) of Trolox equivalents.
| Statistical Analysis |
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Interassay Variability (Same Sample Observed at Different Times by the Same Observers) Pairs of colorimetric measures within observer and experiment (8 averages with 4 per observer) were averaged, and the coefficient of variation [(SD/Mean) x 100] was calculated overall and for each observer.
Interobserver Variability (Multiple Observers on the Same Day With the Same Sample) We first averaged pairs of colorimetric measures within observer and experiment. The mean difference in measures between observers across the 4 experiments was reported along with its mean (±SD) and 95% CI.
Two-tailed tests were performed with a significance level of .05 for each hypothesis. Data were analyzed using the SAS statistical software package (version 8.2, SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC).
| Results |
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Intraobserver and Intra-assay Variability of the Colorimetric
Assay![]()
There was a high degree of agreement between measures by the same observer,
with a concordance correlation coefficient of 0.992 and corresponding 95% CI
of 0.978 to 0.997. The mean (±SD) and 95% CI of the percent differences
(first observation - second observation/first observation) x 100 were
-3.2 (±3.6) and -5.1 to -1.3, respectively. The variability within
rater on the same experiment was very small relative to the between-experiment
variability.
Interassay Variability of the Colorimetric Assay![]()
The coefficient of variation was 4.7% overall, 4.4% for observer A, and
5.5% for observer B. This was calculated on the average for each experiment
within rater, so the sample sizes are 8 overall and 4 for each rater.
Interobserver Variability of the Colorimetric Assay![]()
The mean (±SD) and 95% CI of the 4 differences between observers
were 27.6 (±38.5) and -10.1 to 65.3, respectively. Again, the 2
measures at each time point were averaged first. The mean (±SD) percent
difference [{(Observer A - Observer B)/Observer B} x 100] was 2.98%
(±4.1%), with a 95% CI of -3.6 to 9.5.
| Discussion |
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-tocopherol, pyruvate, glutathione, taurine, and
hypotaurine (Saleh and Agarwal,
2002). The measurement of total antioxidant capacity by enhanced chemiluminescent method generally takes approximately 40 to 45 minutes; it requires stringent assay conditions as opposed to 10 to 15 minutes for simple colorimetric approach. Since it is convenient to implement, the colorimetric assay has been widely used to assess TAC in human serum (Digiesi et al, 1997; Boisseau-Garsaud et al, 2002) and as a reference benchmark for other assays (Korasevic et al, 2001). Although another assay for measuring TACthe oxygen radical absorbance capacityhas a significantly less reagent cost, it requires a fluorescence detector and takes more than 70 minutes longer to complete than the colorimetric assay (Cao and Prior, 1998). Although the cost of reagents for the enhanced chemiluminescence assay (buffers, signal reagent, peroxidase reagent) is comparable to the cost of a colorimetric assay kit, the price of an average luminometer with kinetic setting averages $30 000 compared with $6000 for a simple spectrophotometer.
The main objective of this study was to determine whether the colorimetry method could be used instead of the enhanced chemiluminescence assaya common method for measuring TAC in seminal fluid. We found a strong correlation among the values obtained by both the colorimetric and chemiluminescence assays. The average difference of 27.6 µM of Trolox equivalents between observers was low compared with the actual values (range, 400 to 1600 µM Trolox equivalents). The more relevant difference of 2.98% between raters in our study was very small, with a 95% CI of -3.6% to 9.5%. In addition, the small intra-assay, interassay, and interobserver variability supports the reliability of this assay. The estimated interobserver variability, for example, was on average 3% (95% CI, -3.6% to 9.5%). The sensitivity of the colorimetric method in our hands was between 50 and 100 µM of Trolox equivalents (Figure 2).
Another important application of our findings would be the measurement of the normal values of TAC in human seminal plasma. There is a lack of consensus in the literature regarding these values despite the strong correlation between low levels of seminal TAC and male infertility. Therefore, the standardization of this simple and inexpensive assay should be considered the first step to reach such a consensus.
One limitation of our study is the small sample size for the comparison of 2 methods. However, our purpose was to identify, develop, and improve an assay that ultimately can be used as a clinician-office laboratory procedure. We have described our preliminary results in this manuscript with such an objective.
In conclusion, the colorimetric assay is a simple, rapid, relatively inexpensive, and reliable method for measuring seminal TAC. It is less expensive and less time-consuming than the traditional enhanced chemiluminescence assay. We therefore recommend this method to be used as an in-office test for the estimation of the seminal TAC in the evaluation of patients with male infertility.
| Footnotes |
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