PREGNANT WOMENS SERUM PROVIDES A NOVEL SUPPORT FOR HUMAN SPERM HYPERACTIVATED MOTILITY

Objective-Medium composition and assay parameters for assessing human sperm hyperactivated motility (HA) were investigated during a time-cou rse study. Methods-The incidence of HA was studied, in vitro, in sperm samples incubated in eight different media compositions. HA was asses sed using the 7.1 version of the Hamilton Thorn Motion Analyzer (HTM). Results-The HA expressed at four hours with human tubal fluid (HTF) w as 21.5 +/- 1.1% (mean +/- SEM), and that in Ham's F10 medium was 20.1 +/- 1.4% when the media were supplemented with pregnant women's serum (PWS), a novel support for HA. When fetal cord serum (FCS) was used i nstead of PWS, the HA exhibited was 16.8 +/- 2.3% and 13.5 +/- 2.35% i n HTF and Ham's F10, respectively. Addition of human serum albumin (HS A) to HTF or Ham's F10 media supported HA peak at the four-hour time p oint (HTF, 19.5 +/- 5.0%; Ham's F10, 10.6 +/- 3.2%). On the other hand , the peak HA expressed in synthetic tubal fluid (STF) supplemented wi th PWS was 6.0 +/- 0.7% at the two-hour time point. Intra-Menezo B2 me dium (IMB2) supported HA at the two- and four-hour time points, but no t at six hours. HA appeared much less when Biggers-Whitten-Whittingham (BWW) medium was used. Conclusion-PWS (10%) followed by FCS (7.5%) ad dition to media, especially HTF and Ham's F10, appears to enhance HA e xpression.