Evidence that human follicular fluid contains a chemoattractant for spermatozoa

Abstract

Considering that information from the literature clearly establishes that human follicular fluid enhances both motility and viability of spermatozoa and that this fluid contains substances with chemotactic activity for leukocytes, we looked to see if follicular fluid might exert any chemical attraction to male germinal cells. In an vitro model using 0.8% agarose plates, it was demonstrated that the number of cells migrating to wells containing follicular fluids from patients in a program for GIFT, classified as mature in accordance to oocyte morphology, was significantly higher than those migrating to control wells. Further studies are needed to confirm these results and to study the possible specificity of the signal.