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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on December 9, 2004
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/deh657
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Human Reproduction © European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 2004; all rights reserved
Received June 6, 2004
Revised August 10, 2004
Accepted October 26, 2004

Article

Human sperm chemotaxis: both the oocyte and its surrounding cumulus cells secrete sperm chemoattractants

Fei Sun 1, Anat Bahat 1, Anna Gakamsky 1, Eliezer Girsh 2, Nathan Katz 2, Laura C. Giojalas 3, Ilan Tur-Kaspa 2, and Michael Eisenbach 1*

1 Department of Biological Chemistry, The Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
2 In-vitro Fertilization Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Barzilai Medical Center, Ben-Gurion University, 73806 Ashkelon, Israel
3 Center for Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Sciences, National University of Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sársfield 299, 5000-Córdoba, Argentina

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Michael Eisenbach, E-mail: m.eisenbach{at}weizmann.ac.il


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: Human sperm chemotaxis to pre-ovulatory follicular fluid is well established in vitro. However, it is not known whether the female's oocyte-cumulus complex secretes sperm chemoattractants subsequent to ovulation (for enabling sperm chemotaxis within the Fallopian tube) and, if so, which of these cell types--the oocyte or the cumulus oophorus--is the physiological origin of the secreted chemoattractant. METHODS: By employing a directionality-based chemotaxis assay, we examined whether media conditioned with either individual, mature (metaphase II) human oocytes or the surrounding cumulus cells attract human sperm by chemotaxis. RESULTS: We observed sperm chemotaxis to each of these media, suggesting that both the oocyte and the cumulus cells secrete sperm chemoattractants. CONCLUSIONS: These observations suggest that sperm chemoattractants are secreted not only prior to ovulation within the follicle, as earlier studies have demonstrated, but also after oocyte maturation outside the follicle, and that there are two chemoattractant origins: the mature oocyte and the surrounding cumulus cells.

Keywords: chemotaxis; cumulus cells; oocyte-conditioned medium; ovum; sperm chemoattractant.
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