In vitro study evaluating the instantaneous treatment of ozonised olive oil on human sperm

Abstract

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of ozonised olive oil (OOO) on human sperm in vitro.

Methods: Human sperm was incubated with OOO for 20 s in vitro. The lowest concentration that completely immobilised all the sperm in 20 s without subsequent recovery of motility was recorded as the minimum effective concentration (MEC). The effects of OOO at MEC on human sperm viability, mitochondrial and acrosomal status, DNA integrity and transmission electron microscopy were observed.

Results: Our findings demonstrate that OOO dose-dependently inhibits sperm motility. The MEC of OOO for 100% sperm immobilisation in 20 s was 6 μg/ml. Further experiments showed that sperm ultrastructure, function and DNA integrity were significantly affected after treatment with 6 μg/ml OOO in vitro.

Conclusions: OOO has spermicidal potential and may be explored as a promising vaginal contraceptive agent.

Chinese abstract

目的：我们研究的目的是评估臭氧化橄榄油（OOO）对体外人精子的影响。

方法：将人精子在体外与OOO孵育20秒。在20秒内完全固定所有精子而随后不恢复运动的最低浓度被记录为最低有效浓度（MEC）。观察OOO处于MEC时对人精子活力、线粒体和顶体状态、DNA完整性和透射电子显微镜产生的影响。

结果：我们的研究结果表明OOO剂量依赖性地抑制精子活力。 OOO在20秒内将100％精子固定的MEC为6μg/ ml。进一步的实验表明, 用6μg/ ml OOO体外处理后, 精子超微结构、功能和DNA完整性均受到显著影响。

结论：OOO具有杀精潜力, 可作为有前景的阴道避孕药进行探索。

Keywords:

• Acrosome reaction
• contraception
• DNA integrity
• ozonised olive oil
• spermicide

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Xiong, president of the Reproductive Medicine Center at Tongji Medical College, for organising the provision of human sperm samples. The product support for OOO was generously provided by Wuhan Aimin Pharmaceutical Company.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest associated with this manuscript.