Improved sperm function in human sperm subpopulations: a model for studying subfertility

Shannen Keyser, Gerhard van der Horst, Liana Maree

Department of Medical Bioscience, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa

Abstract: With many cases of male infertility being idiopathic or unknown, the necessity for in-depth functional and structural sperm analysis beyond routine basic semen analysis techniques has become crucial. Existence of subpopulations is often neglected in basic semen analysis thus sperm heterogeneity could interfere with an accurate evaluation of overall sperm quality. This study aimed to determine and compare various functional characteristics of two sperm subpopulations found within the same human semen samples before and after treatment with various capacitating media and chemicals. Normospermic donor semen samples were separated into two fractions via double density gradient centrifugation and further assessed for their sperm functional characteristics before and after treatment with capacitating media, progesterone (1.98, 3.96, 19.8 μM), and myoinositol (11 mM). High motile sperm fractions had significantly improved functional characteristics in contrast to the low motile fractions with a notable improvement in both sperm fractions’ functional characteristics after exposure to treatments. Selected sperm functional parameters in lower quality sperm subpopulations could be improved to the level of a higher quality sperm subpopulation, separated from the same semen samples. If the lower quality sperm subpopulation mimics the sperm population in subfertile males, this can be used as a model to study such subpopulations and possibly broaden the potential treatment regimens and sperm isolation procedures for ART.

Keyser S., van der Horst G., Maree L. (2021) Improved Sperm Function in Human Sperm Subpopulations: A Model for Studying Subfertility. In: Björndahl L., Flanagan J., Holmberg R., Kvist U. (eds) XIIIth International Symposium on Spermatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66292-9_50
First Online: 23 July 2021