Relationship between the movement characteristics of human spermatozoa and their ability to penetrate cervical mucus and zona-free hamster oocytes
Open accessAbstract
In a group of normospermic donors exhibiting hamster oocyte penetration scores of 0-100%, multiple regression analysis indicated that only 20% of the variation in fertilizing potential could be explained by differences in the movement characteristics of the spermatozoa following incubation in vitro. When the movement characteristics of the spermatozoa in semen were considered this figure was reduced to 6.8% as a result of significant differences in the motility patterns exhibited by the seminal and post-incubation sperm populations. A much closer relationship was observed between the movement characteristics of human spermatozoa in semen and their ability to penetrate cervical mucus. When differences in motile sperm densities were taken into account, 76% of the variation in cervical mucus penetration could be accounted for by the existence of linear correlations with certain aspects of sperm movement (multiple R = 0.874). Of the various attributes of sperm motility measured (linear velocity of progression, frequency of rotation, amplitude of sperm head displacement, % rolling and % yawing), a failure to exhibit an adequate amplitude of lateral sperm head displacement was consistently found to be the most significant factor determining the success of sperm-cervical mucus interaction (R2 = 0.53).
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The WHO manual cites older papers stating that rapid motility (grade a) has clinical value.
“To justify this choice, the WHO manual cites older papers stating that rapid motility (grade a) has clinical value [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30].”
From The Sixth Edition of the WHO Manual for Human Semen Analysis: A Critical Review and SWOT Analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [21]
The Discussion (page unavailable) identifies linear velocity of progression as one factor associated with cervical-mucus penetration, giving some support to the clinical relevance of sperm movement. The paper does not identify rapid motility as WHO grade a or establish the clinical value of that grade; its Discussion also says sperm movement had no consistent, clinically useful relationship with fertilizing potential in normospermic males. The claim about what the WHO manual cites cannot be established from this paper. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Research works printed but not linked: 6
- Aitken, R.J. (1983) Attributes and applications of the zona-free hamster egg penetration test. In In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer, pp. 167-193.
- Eds P. G. Crosignani & B. G. Rubin. Academic Press, London.
- Atherton, R.W., Radany, E.W. & Polakoski, K.L. (1977) Quantitation of human sperm motility. In Techniques of Human Andrology, pp. 173-188.
- Biggers, J.D., Whitten, W.K. & Whittingham, D.G. (1971) The culture of mouse embryos in vitro. In Methods in Mammalian Embryology pp. 86-116.
- Nie, N.H., Hull, C.H., Jenkins, J.G., Steinbrenner, . & Bent, D.H. (1975) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw Hill, New York.
- World Health Organization (1980) Laboratory Manualfor the Examination of Human Semen and Semen-Cervical Mucus Interaction. Eds M. A. Belsey, R. Eliasson, A. J. Gallegos, K. S. Moghissi, C. A. Paulsen & M. R. N. Prasad. Press Concern, Singapore. Yanagimachi, R. (1970) The movement of golden hamster spermatozoa before and after capacitation. J. Reprod. Fert. 23, 193-196.
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The Sixth Edition of the WHO Manual for Human Semen Analysis: A Critical Review and SWOT Analysis
Boitrelle, F., Shah, R., Saleh, R., Henkel, R., Kandil, H., Chung, E., Vogiatzi, P., Zini, A., Arafa, M., & Agarwal, A. (2021) · Life · doi:10.3390/life11121368 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
- Authors
- Aitken, R. J., Sutton, M., Warner, P., & Richardson, D. W.
- Affiliations
- MRC Centre for Reproductive Health (GB)
- Venue
- Reproduction
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1985-03-01
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 441-449
- ISSN
- 1470-1626 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-7899
- OpenAlex
- W2012286026
- Cited by
- 218
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 7.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Reproduction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Sperm and Testicular Function
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Biology and Fertility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Reproductive Health and Technologies
- Keywords
- sperm motility, cervical mucus penetration, zona-free hamster oocytes, fertilizing potential, in vitro incubation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cells, Cultured, Cervix Mucus, Female, Cricetinae, Humans, Male, Oocytes, Sperm Capacitation, Sperm Motility, Sperm-Ovum Interactions, Spermatozoa
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