Enhancement of motility by treating spermatozoa with an antioxidant solution (Sperm-Fit) following ejaculation

Oxygen radical generation is known to be detrimental to sperm function,especially motility, through the lipid peroxidation of the membranes.Generation of reactive oxygen species can be induced by leukocytecontamination, sperm centrifugation and the presence of abnormalspermatozoa with excess residual cytoplasm. This study aims to evaluate theeffect on sperm motility of incubation in an antioxidant-containingsolution, during liquefaction and centrifugation. Thirty semen samples wereeach divided into two equal parts: one mixed with Tyrode's solution, theother with a salt solution containing antioxidants (Sperm- Fit; ElliosBio-Media, Paris, France). All the procedures were identical in the twogroups. The ratio of leukocytes to spermatozoa was significantly correlatedwith the motility after liquefaction and after a 24 h incubation in routinein-vitro fertilization (IVF) medium and with the number of motilespermatozoa recovered after Percoll preparation. Moreover, when this ratiowas > or = 0.2, all motility parameters were lowered. Incubation withSperm-Fit allowed a higher percentage of motility after Percoll preparationwhen the ratio was > or = 0.2 (48 +/- 5% versus 41 +/- 6% for Sperm-Fitand Tyrode's solution respectively; P < 0.05) and a greater number ofmotile spermatozoa recovered after Percoll preparation, whatever the ratio(3.2 +/- 1.0 x 10(6) versus 2.4 +/- 0.7 x 10(6) for Sperm-Fit and Tyrode'ssolution respectively when ratio > or = 0.2; 18.1 +/- 3.4 x 10(6) versus14.4 +/- 2.9 x 10(6) for Sperm-Fit and Tyrode's solution respectively whenratio < 0.2; P < 0.05). These results show that incubation withantioxidants during liquefaction and centrifugation increases recovery ofmotile spermatozoa.