Unfavorable Humoral Factors for Spermatozoon Survival in Vaginal Medium

The effects of vaginal secretion, its antibacterial peptide fraction, albumin, and bacterial metabolites on the spermatozoon membranes were studied. Vaginal secretion was collected from healthy women; the fraction of antibacterial peptides was isolated with the use of membrane filter; electrophoretically pure BSA served as albumin; bacterial metabolites were isolated from supernatants of cultured Candida albicans yeast and E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Antibacterial activities of the preparations were evaluated by spectrophotometry and microscopy. Albumin in a concentration close to its serum concentration (50 mg/ml) destroyed spermatozoon membranes by 83.8±2.7% with the formation of vesicular debris. The native vaginal secretion and its antibacterial peptide fraction also destroyed spermatozoa by 50.8±4.4 and 18.0±9.7%, respectively. Activities of bacterial metabolites in concentrations close to the natural did not surpass 3%.