Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 2, 293-299,
February 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Co-incubation of human spermatozoa with Chlamydia trachomatis serovar E causes premature sperm death
1 Division of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, The Medical School, 2 The Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Sheffield and 3 The University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jessop Hospital for Women, Sheffield, UK
The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of elementary bodies (EB) of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars E and LGV on sperm motility, viability and acrosomal status. Highly motile preparations of spermatozoa from normozoospermic patients were co-incubated for 6 h with 0.54x106 EB per ml. At 1, 3 and 6 h of incubation, sperm motility was determined by computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) and the proportion of dead cells determined by the hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test. Acrosomal status was also examined using a standard monoclonal antibody assay. In the absence of EB, the percentage of motile spermatozoa remained >69% over the 6h incubation and the proportion of dead spermatozoa at <12%. However, during the incubation with EB of serovar E there was a significant decline in the percentage of motile spermatozoa (P < 0.05), and a corresponding increase in the proportion of dead spermatozoa (P < 0.05) at all time-points. However, following incubation with serovar LGV, only the percentage of dead spermatozoa after 6 h incubation was significantly different from the control (P < 0.05). The amount of acrosome-reacted spermatozoa remained unchanged (<16%) in all incubations at all time-points. Dose-response experiments indicated that increasing the concentration of EB to 2.5x106 per ml did not significantly alter the results. Furthermore, co-incubation of spermatozoa with dead EB (killed by heat treatment) abolished the chlamydia-mediated response, indicating that the effect is a result of the live organism and not soluble components or membrane elements. These data suggest that a detrimental effect on sperm function by some serovars may be an as yet unrecognized component of infertility problems.
Key words: Chlamydia trachomatis/elementary bodies/human/serovars E and LGV/sperm function
4 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: The University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jessop Hospital for Women, Sheffield S3 7RE, UK. E-mail: A.Pacey{at}Sheffield.ac.uk
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