Andrologia. 1994 Mar-Apr; 26(2): 61-5.

Effect of lipid peroxidation on beating frequency of human sperm tail.

Hong CY, Lee MF, Lai LJ, Wang CP.

Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

The tail beat frequency (TBF) of sperm was measured with a sperm-head fixation method which was based on the tendency of sperm to attach its head to the surface of a glass slide. Ferrous sulphate, a promotor of lipid peroxidation, inhibited TBF within 5 min of mixing with sperm. This inhibition can be reversed dose-dependently by superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and albumin. It was concluded that TBF could be a new pharmacological model for studying the effect of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant on sperm motility. Both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants can be screened with this method.