BINDING OF HUMAN SPERMATOZOA TO LECTIN-COATED AGAROSE MICROBEADS

An inability or decreased ability of spermatozoa to bind to the zona p ellucida (ZP) may be at the origin of many cases of poorly explained o r idiopathic infertility. It would be clinically useful to be able to distinguish this condition from other causes of infertility. A major p roblem in testing the sperm-ZP binding ability is the paucity of biolo gical ZP. Examination of whether sperm binding to PNA-, UEA-1-, WGA-, Con A-, or PSA-coated agarose microbeads reflected sperm binding to bi ological ZP and correlated with in vitro fertilization rates showed th at only binding to WGA-coated microbeads showed significant positive a nd negative predictive values when compared to IVF rates in 2 x 2 cont ingency. Sperm binding to PNA, Con A, and PSA was indiscriminately hig h, irrespective of IVF rate. Human spermatozoa did not bind to UEA-1-c oated agarose microbeads. Furthermore, sperm binding to WGA-coated mic robeads correlated with sperm morphology ratings. These results implic ate terminal N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and/or sialic acid (specific sacch arides for WGA) in sperm-ZP interaction and also suggest that the use of lectin-coated microbeads may represent an initial step in the devel opment of a synthetic sperm binding assay.