Effect of Metals on the Development of Hyperactivated Motility by Rabbit SpermCells

摘要

Rabbit sperm acquire motion patterns mimicking hyperactivated motility uponincubation in medium M. Lead and cadmium, at concentrations present in seminal plasma of men exposed to the metals, prevented development of these motion patterns in a concentration dependent manner. Nonhyperactivated motility was unaffected. Zinc and mercury, at concentrations that did not inhibit motility, decreased the percentage of sperm with motions that mimicked hyperactivated motility over time, but the decrease was independent of concentration. Concentrations of hexavalent chromium twice that found in seminal plasma of exposed men had no significant effect, as a function of time and concentration, on the percent of sperm with motility mimicking hyperactivated motility. As lead and cadmium are reproductive toxicants, the inhibition of motions that mimic hyperactivated motility in medium M may be useful for the identification of metals and other compounds with the potential to adversely affect reproduction.