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Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 137-142, 2004
© European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 2004

Human sperm lipid content is modified after migration into human cervical mucus

N.Chakroun Feki1,4, P. Thérond2,3, M. Couturier2, G. Liméa1, A. Legrand2,3, P. Jouannet1 and J. Auger1,5

1Service d’Histologie-Embryologie, Biologie de la Reproduction/CECOS, Hôpital Cochin, 123 Bd de Port-Royal, 75014 Paris, 2INSERM unité 347 and 3Laboratoire de Biochimie, Hôpital de Bicêtre, 78 Rue du Général Leclerc, 94275 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France 4Current address: Laboratoire d’Histologie-Embryologie, Faculté de Médecine de Sfax, Avenue Majida Bouleila, BP813, 3029, Tunisia

5 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Service de Biologie de la Reproduction, Hôpital Cochin, 123 Bd de Port Royal, 75014 Paris. e-mail: jacques.auger{at}cch.ap-hop-paris.fr

The effect of the female genital tract on sperm is not well known. To investigate the effect of cervical mucus on the lipid content of human sperm, we co-incubated sperm and mucus samples in vitro such that the sperm were able to swim in and out of the mucus samples. High performance liquid chromatography and UV detection were used to measure the lipid contents of the sperm and cervical mucus before and after migration. The concentrations of cholesterol, vitamin E, sphingomyelin, diacyls and plasmalogens in sperm were all ~45% lower after migration in cervical mucus and the cervical mucus was found to be enriched in some of these lipid species after the sperm migration. These results suggest that the cervical mucus selects a subpopulation of sperm with a lower lipid content. However, a concomitant efflux of various lipid classes from the sperm to the cervical mucus cannot be ruled out.

Key words: Key words: cervical mucus/cholesterol/HPLC/phospholipids/sperm


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