title: The secretory products of Trichomonas vaginalis decrease fertilizing capacity of mice sperm in vitro.
abstract: Trichomonas vaginalis infection is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections in humans and is now recognized as an important cause of infertility in men. There is little information about the effect of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from T. vaginalis on sperm, but previous reports do not provide a conclusive description of the functional integrity of the sperm. To investigate the impact of EPS on the fertilizing capacity of sperm, we assessed sperm motility, acrosomal status, hypo-osmotic swelling, and in vitrofertilization rate after incubating the sperm with EPS in vitrousing mice. The incubation of sperm with EPS significantly decreased sperm motility, viability, and functional integrity in a concentration and time-dependent manner. These effects on sperm quality also resulted in a decreased fertilization rate in vitro. This is the first report that demonstrates the direct negative impact of the EPS of T. vaginalis on the fertilization rate of sperm in vitro. However, further study should be performed using human sperm to determine if EPS has similar negative impact on human sperm fertilizing capacity in vitro.
authors.forename: Jaesook
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roh
authors.forename: Young-Su
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Biology and Medical Parasitology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Sook
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ryu
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D023421:Models, Animal; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013075:Sperm Capacitation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014246:Trichomonas vaginalis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins