Magnetic resonance studies of intact human spermatozoa

A correlation has been established between the ability of sperms to reduce the nitroxide spin label--TEMPO and their metabolic activity. The rate of reduction of TEMPO is sensitive to the quantity and quality of sperms and therefore, this property can be developed into a quality rating method. Keeping this in mind, effects of various agents on the spin label reduction rates have been studied. The effect of cold shock on sperms has been found to be harmless and does not lead to loss in metabolic activity. The differential rates of spin label reduction after bubbling N2 and O2 gases through the samples indicate that the process of anaerobic glycolysis imparts higher electron donating capacity to spermatozoa. The method has been used to study influence of inhibitors of electron transport chain (ETC) such as rotenone, antimycin A, KCN and sodium azide which inhibit ETC at different levels.