EFFECT OF HUMAN FOLLICULAR AND TUBAL FLUIDS ON HUMAN, MOUSE AND RAT SPERMATOZOA IN VITRO

Abstract

Human follicular and tubal fluids, as well as mixtures of the two, were tested on the acrosome staining reaction of human, rat and mouse spermatozoa. In all three species, heat-inactivated follicular fluid (56 °C for 30 min) enhanced sperm motility, whereas non-inactivated fluid immobilized the sperm. Spermatozoa obtained from the epididymis of rats and mice, and that derived from human ejaculates had striking acrosome staining reaction (acrosome-blue; nucleus-red), whereas, after treatment with human follicular or tubal fluids, the acrosome staining reaction was lost. In the mouse, a correlation was found between the loss of acrosome staining reaction and the rate of in vitro fertilization and subsequent development of blastocysts. These data suggest that (a) factor(s) for sperm capacitation are present in human follicular and tubal fluids, (b) heat inactivation eliminates toxicity of follicular fluid and (c) the capacitation factor does not appear to be species specific.