Human sperm function in co-culture with human, macaque or bovine oviduct epithelial cell monolayers

Human sperm function was compared in co-culture with monolayers of oviduct epithelial cells (OEC) from three species, human, macaque and bovine. For a ll species, freeze-thawed and passaged OEC from females in the periovulator y phase were used. OEC cultured on an extracellular matrix (Matrigel) forme d a monolayer which supported human sperm attachment to OEC from all three species. Spermatozoa in co-culture with OEC from all three species showed p rolonged survival and improved motility characteristics over those cultured in medium alone. This paper describes an efficient, repeatable co-culture system for human spermatozoa which supports sperm attachment to OEC and sub sequently improves sperm function over that seen in control medium cultures . Because the improved sperm function in co-culture did not differ signific antly between human and bovine OEC for those attributes studied, it is prop osed that bovine OEC could be used as an alternative to human OEC in certai n human sperm coculture studies. Follicular phase bovine OEC from reproduct ively normal donors are far more accessible than their human counterparts, thus making this co-culture system more widely available for the study of h uman spermatozoa-female tract interactions.