Human and bovine cervical mucus penetration as a test of sperm function for in-vitro fertilization

Abstract

Human and bovine cervical mucus penetration tests (n = 57) were performed preceding IVF to test their prognostic value as sperm function tests for IVF. This evaluation also induded results from conventional semen analysis and from a computerized sperm analysis system. The bovine cervical mucus penetration test was shown to be at least as valuable as the human cervical mucus penetration test in evaluating sperm function. The migration distance of the vanguard sperm (P < 0.001) and the sperm density at a fixed migration distance in the mucus column (P < 0.05) correlated most closely with the IVF results. A clear parallelism with the out come of the ‘swim up’ technique was also found. Of the sperm parameters examined, only sperm motility In the ejaculate (P < 0.05) correlated significantly with the results of IVF. It is concluded that the outcome of a bovine cervical mucus penetration test depends on the same sperm functions as re quired for IVF. Therefore, this test may be of predictive value in an IVF programme.