New discriminatory level for glucosidase activity to diagnose epididymal obstruction or dysfunction.

Neutral alpha-glucosidase activity was measured in seminal plasma of 30 patients consulting for infertility with a variety of disorders, and compared with 25 normal controls. Significantly more of the study populations (asthenozoospermia, 4/6; oligozoospermia, 3/5; azoospermia 8/15) had a neutral alpha-glucosidase activity less than 10 mIU/mL as compared with control samples (3/25). Also the mean (+/- SD) neutral alpha-glucosidase activity in patients with asthenozoospermia (11.7 +/- 9.2) oligozoospermia (11.3 +/- 7.2), and post vasectomy azoospermia (5.3 +/- 3.4) was significantly (p < .05) less than ejaculate from controls (21.2 +/- 14). A seminal alpha-glucosidase level of 10 mIU/mL appears to be a useful discriminatory marker in the diagnosis of epididymal obstruction or dysfunction.