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Effect of cooling on the mobility and function of human spermatozoa.

Author(s) : CHANTLER E., ABRAHAM-PESKIR J. V., LITTLE S., et al.

Type of article: Article

Summary

Human spermatozoa were cooled from 37 to 0 °C at 10 °C/min in 5 °C steps with 1 min equilibration at each step. Spermatozoa were held at 0 °C for 5 min and then rewarmed at the same rate. No significant effect of cooling on the straight-line velocity was found using computer-aided semen analysis. The physiological function of spermatozoa was examined before and after cooling using hypoosmotic swelling, ionophore-provoked acrosome reaction, and binding to fragments of human zonae pellucidae. When spermatozoa were cooled and rewarmed in seminal plasma there was no significant change in either the ionophore induced-acrosome reaction or the binding to zona pellucida fragments. When spermatozoa were fractionated by centrifugation through Percoll an increased response in both was seen. However, following cooling and rewarming, a significant decline in the response of both occurred. Mobility alone is thus not a reliable predictor of changes in other physiological functions of spermatozoa following cooling. Furthermore, short-term cooling appears to have no significant detrimental effect and cold shock may be avoided in the clinical context by controlled cooling and warming.

Details

  • Original title: Effect of cooling on the mobility and function of human spermatozoa.
  • Record ID : 2001-2513
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Cryobiology - vol. 41 - n. 2
  • Publication date: 2000/09

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