Correlation between sperm penetration assay and acrosome reaction in sperm treated with human follicular fluid

In this study, we determined whether there was a correlation between sperm penetration assay (SPA) and acrosome reaction (AR) in sperm after being treated with human follicular fluid (hFF). Sperm specimens were obtained from 13 men participating in our in vitro fertilization program. After washing and preincubation, aliquots of sperm samples were treated with either hFF or Ham's F-10 medium (control). Approximately 1.0 x 10(6) motile sperm from the control and hFF-treated samples were coincubated individually with zona-free hamster eggs for SPA. Sperm remaining in the suspension after coincubation with eggs were taken to determine the incidence of AR by a triple-stain technique. The data revealed that an increased SPA score in hFF-treated samples was related to a higher incidence of acrosome-reacted sperm.