Human sperm penetration in different media

Sperm penetration into bovine cervical mucus and hen egg white using capill ary tube penetration was investigated to verify the suitability of the capi llary tube penetration test with hen egg white as a test of human sperm fun ction. Semen samples from 50 consecutive patients were used for penetration tests and spermatozoa of a further 10 semen samples were penetrated into b ovine cervical mucus and hen egg white for special motility assessment by c omputer-assisted motility analysis. Penetration tests revealed the well-kno wn different ability of spermatozoa to penetrate into cervical mucus and a different penetration of spermatozoa into egg white for two nearly equal gr oups (n=24 and n=26, respectively). One group showed penetration comparable with cervical mucus and one group a very fast penetration up to the limit of the scale of measurement. Motility assessment of spermatozoa that penetr ated into cervical mucus and egg white revealed significant differences in straight-line velocity, linearity and lateral head displacement. The number of spermatozoa selected actively during the penetration procedure was sign ificantly higher in cervical mucus than in hen egg white. Spermatozoa selec ted by bovine cervical mucus and hen egg white exhibited a different motili ty pattern. There was significantly better linearity and less lateral head displacement in egg white than in cervical mucus. Sperm penetration into he n egg white appeared to be influenced by different sources of egg white.