ATP-content and kinetics of acrosome reaction in human spermatozoa: influence of various culture media and incubation time

The ATP content and the kinetics of acrosome reaction of isolated human spermatozoa were investigated during an in vitro culture period of 3 hours in 3 serum-enriched media commonly adopted in IVF and GIFT procedures (Earle solution, Ham F10 and Menezo B2). The ATP concentration in spermatozoa did not change between 1 and 3 hr of incubation and no differences were seen using the three media under investigation. The percentage of acrosome reactions significantly increased during culture, to a similar extent in the three media. The results suggest that each of the three media is equally well suitable for human sperm culture in preparation of IVF and GIFT procedures.