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The effect of egg yolk medium on human sperm binding in the hemizona assay
S E Lanzendorf1, W J Holmgren, R S Jeyendran
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prentice Women's Hospital, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois.
Objective:
To evaluate, using the hemizona assay (HZA), whether egg yolk treatment of human sperm enhances binding to the human zona pellucida in vitro and to determine whether such a treatment is as efficient as the standard swim-up procedure for promoting sperm binding ability.
Design:
Ejaculates were divided into aliquots and half incubated at 37 degrees C for 21 hours in standard culture medium or combined with buffered medium containing chicken egg yolk and stored at 4 degrees C for 21 hours. A second set of ejaculates were split and processed by a standard 1-hour rise alone or treated with egg yolk medium.
Setting:
University teaching hospital.
Participants:
Two healthy sperm donors.
Main Outcome Measure:
The number of sperm tightly bound to the hemizona were measured and compared between the groups.
Results:
A significant increase (P less than 0.0001) in hemizona binding (n = 46) for egg yolk treatment (90.1 +/- 9.8; range 7 to 258) as compared with standard culture medium (53.0 +/- 8.8; range 0 to 228) was observed. Similarly, a significant increase (P less than 0.0001) in binding (n = 37) for egg yolk treatment (74.9 +/- 8.2; range 7 to 219) as compared with samples obtained with a sperm rise (37.1 +/- 5.7; range 2 to 122).
Conclusions:
Treatment of human spermatozoa with an egg yolk medium at 4 degrees C overnight significantly increases sperm binding in the HZA.