Factors affecting sperm motility. VI. Sperm viability under the influence of bacterial growth in human ejaculates.

The influence of bacterial growth on human sperm motility and viability was evaluated objectively with the multiple-exposure photography method. Experimental semen specimens, obtained from normal donors bh nonaseptic means of masturbation, were incubated with antibiotics at room temperature or body temperature for 24 hours. Although bacteria, grew in control specimens, were totally eradicated in all antibiotic-treated specimens, no significant difference was found between these groups with regard to sperm motility throughout the time of incubation. Sperm survival was not inhibited, nor was it extended as a result of suppression of bacterial growth. In both groups, survival time was much shorter in specimens incubated at body temperature than in those kept at room temperature. Sperm motility was not affected after 2 hours of incubation of fresh specimens with concentrations of various pathogenic bacteria similar to those found in severe prostatitis. The question of whether the use of antibiotics in the treatment of asthenospermia per se has a prognostic value is discussed.