EFFECT OF MILK-YOLK ON THE FERTILIZING-CAPACITY OF SPERMATOZOA

Pre-incubation of human sperm in egg yolk based medium (TEST-yolk) as well as milk have been shown to improve sperm fertilizing capacity. Th e purpose of this study was to compare a combination of these two medi a, called milk-yolk, against the two established media, in order to te st for a possible synergistic effect(s) on sperm functions as measured by sperm motility, acrosome reaction and penetration assay. Statistic ally, no differences have been observed among the three media, except for SPA outcome in milk-yolk, being significantly lower than the corre sponding values for the other two media. In conclusion the beneficial effects of egg yolk and milk appear to be eliminated once both media a re combined, resulting in an antagonistic effect on the fertilizing ca pacity of the spermatozoa.