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FTIR Spectroscopy to Reveal Lipid and Protein Changes Induced on Sperm by Capacitation: Bases for an Improvement of Sample Selection in ART
- Source :
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol 21, Iss 22, p 8659 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Although being a crucial step for Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) success, to date sperm selection is based only on morphology, motility and concentration characteristics. Considering the many possible alterations, there is a great need for analytical approaches allowing more effective sperm selections. The use of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) may represent an interesting possibility, being able to reveal many macromolecular changes in a single measurement in a nondestructive way. As a proof of concept, in this observational study, we used a FTIR approach to reveal features related to sperm quality and chemical changes promoted by in vitro capacitation. We found indication that α-helix content is increased in capacitated sperm, while high percentages of the β-structures seem to correlate to poor-quality spermatozoa. The most interesting observation was related to the lipid composition, when measured as CH2/CH3 vibrations (ratio 2853/2870), which resulted in being strongly influenced by capacitation and well correlated with sperm motility. Interestingly, this ratio is higher than 1 in infertile samples, suggesting that motility is related to sperm membranes stiffness and lipid composition. Although further analyses are requested, our results support the concept that FTIR can be proposed as a new smart diagnostic tool for semen quality assessment in ART.
- Subjects :
- sperm
infertility
FTIR
lipids
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
Chemistry
QD1-999
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14220067 and 16616596
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 22
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.1bba6276a58b4bd195675848de52e3a9
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21228659