MAINTENANCE OF HUMAN SPERM MOTILITY AND PREVENTION OF OXIDATIVE DAMAGE THROUGH COCULTURE INCUBATION

Co-culture incubation is one of the important techniques used in basic and clinical research of assisted reproduction. In this study, sperm samples from 40 healthy donors were prepared for co-culture incubation with Vero cells which had been derived from the kidney fibroblasts of the African green monkey, Cercopithecus aethiops. We found that the m otility characteristics of ejaculated human sperm co-cultured with Ver o cells were largely maintained and the percentage of hyperactivated s perm in the co-culture group was not affected. While the sperm of the control group completely lost the motility at 12 h incubation at 37 de grees C in 5% CO2, the sperm co-cultured with Vero cells still maintai ned 74% of the original motility. Lipid peroxidation and accumulation of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in spermatozoa were also reduced by the co-culture incubation, which strongly indicates that intercellular in teractions may play some role in the maintenance of sperm functions. W e conclude that the oxidative damage in vitro of the sperm can be redu ced by the co-culture system and thereby maintains the function of spe rm from oxidative damage.