Effects of steroids on the in vitro forward migration of human spermatozoa

Abstract The effects of 14 steroids at concentrations between 0.1 and 10 μg/ml on human spermatozoal forward migration in vitro were tested. Oestradiol-17β at a concentration of 0.1 μg/ml significantly activated spermatozoal forward migration in ejaculated human semen. However, the effect of oestradiol-17β at concentrations of 2 and 10 μg/ml on ejaculated human sperm motility was not significantly different from the control where no steroid was added. Progesterone, testosterone, oestriol, oestrone, oestradiol-17d, and ethinyl oestradiol significantly inhibited human spermatozoal forward migration at concentrations of 10 μg/ml. Chlormadinone acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate at concentrations of 2 and 10 μg/ml significantly inhibited human spermatozoal forward migration, while norethynodrel, ethynodiol diacetate, norgestrel and lynoestrenol significantly inhibited human spermatozoal forward migration at concentrations between 0.1 and 10 μg/ml. However, norethindrone had no demonstrable effect on human spermatozoal forward migration at the above concentrations.