An evaluation of the level of testosterone, DHEA and prolactin among Toxoplasma gondii infected and uninfected infertile couples attending to Fatima Al-Zahra infertility treatment center, Babol, Northern Iran

Introduction/Aims: Toxoplasmosis modifies various hormones and cytokines in the infected hosts which may result in several disorders. This study was conducted to assess testosterone, DHEA, and prolactin concentration levels among Toxoplasma gondii infected and uninfected infertile couples. Methods: Blood samples were collected and sera were separated. The sera were analyzed for the detection of anti-Toxoplasma (IgG& IgM) antibodies using commercial ELISA kits. The level of DHEA was measured by ELISA and the levels of testosterone and prolactin were evaluated by enzyme-linked fluorescent assay (ELFA, VIDAS). Results: The overall seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis was 58.0% (218/376). Among women, 56.9% (107/188) and 6.5% (7/107) were positive for anti-T. gondii antibodies IgG and IgM, respectively. The IgG and IgM were detected in the sera of 111/188 (59.0%) and 9/111 (8.1%) in male subjects, respectively. A positive association was observed between T. gondii infection and the upper and lower ranges of the normal value of testosterone in males (x 2 = 6.8, p = 0.033) but not in females (x 2 = 0.62, p = 0.99). A positive correlation was seen between toxoplasmosis and the upper and lower ranges of the normal value of prolactin in females (x 2 = 6.5, p = 0.039) but not in male cases (x 2 = 1.06, p = 0.59). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated no statistically significant differences between the level of sexual hormones between Toxoplasma-infected individuals and Toxoplasma-free subjects suffering from infertility. These findings suggest that further studies should be performed on infertile cases with large sample sizes in a case-control format.