Recombinant human albumin supports hamster in-vitro fertilization

Serum albumin is normally required to support sperm capacitation and IVF, but its mechanism of action is not well understood. Commercial serum albumin preparations are contaminated with a variety of other proteins and compounds, and their biological activity is variable. Recombinant human albumin (rHA) might replace serum albumin for IVF.

rHA was examined for its ability to capacitate hamster spermatozoa and to support fertilization in vitro. A standardized hamster IVF system was used to compare the capacitation-supporting activities of rHA and two commercial preparations of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a chemically defined culture medium. Epididymal spermatozoa were incubated for 4 h at 37 degrees C under 5% CO(2) in air in either the basic medium containing rHA, one of the two BSA preparations or no protein, and then cultured in the same medium with ovulated oocytes for another 4 h. The experiment was replicated five times.

Spermatozoa incubated in protein-free medium fertilized only one oocyte (2% of total), significantly less than any of the other three treatment conditions (P < 0.01); spermatozoa incubated in medium containing rHA or BSA fertilized 86-93% of oocytes. There were no differences between the three albumin-containing treatment groups.

rHA is equivalent to commercial serum albumin preparations in its ability to support sperm capacitation and fertilization in this test system. This finding has considerable practical implications for human IVF and may also help efforts to elucidate the mechanism of sperm capacitation.