Motility, acrosome integrity and response to hypoosmotic shock of mammalian spermatozoa treated with bovine follicular fluid.

PONCE AA; VINCENTI LM; STUTZ G; SANTILLÁN ME; FIOL DE CUNEO M; RUIZ RD; MARTINI AC; AIRES V; LACUARA JL

Munster, Alemania

Congreso; X Annual Meeting of the German Society of Andrology; 1998

German Society of Andrology

  Introduction: During its migration through the female reproductive tract, the functional activity of mammalian spermatozoa is gradually modified in order to achieve a succesful interaction with the oocyte. Different chemical signals are involved in the modulation of these phenomena: follicular fluid has been postulated as one of them. Because at present it is not fully understood if the mechanism are species-specific, we investigated the effects of lyophilized bovine follicular fluid (bFF) upon the functional activity of human, post-thawed bovine and epididymal mouse spermatozoa. Material and methods: The gametes were incubated in Tyrode´s médium during 180, 240 and 90 min respectively, prior to the addition of bFF (0.1, 0.5 or 1 mg/ml). Sperm motility, vitality, acrosome integrity and response to hypoosmotic shock were assessed 20 min after addition of bFF or in the absence of bFF (C). Results: While the other parameters remained unchanged, only sperm motility was modified in the presence of bFF 1mg/ml, that increased vs C groups. Conclusions: Results seem to indicate that there exist in bFF some molecular signals with motility increasing ability that is not species-specific.