AUTHOR=Baro Graf Carolina , Ritagliati Carla , Stival Cintia , Balestrini Paula A. , Buffone Mariano G. , Krapf Darío 

TITLE=Determination of a Robust Assay for Human Sperm Membrane Potential Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2019.00101

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2019.00101

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p>Mammalian sperm must undergo a complex process called capacitation in order to fertilize the egg. During this process, hyperpolarization of the sperm plasma membrane has been mostly studied in mouse, and associated to its importance in the preparation to undergo the acrosome reaction (AR). However, despite the increasing evidence of membrane hyperpolarization in human sperm capacitation, no reliable techniques have been set up for its determination. In this report we describe human sperm membrane potential (<italic>Em</italic>) measurements by a fluorimetric population assay, establishing optimal conditions for <italic>Em</italic> determination. In addition, we have conducted parallel measurements of the same human sperm samples by flow cytometry and population fluorimetry, before and after capacitation, to conclusively address their reliability. This integrative analysis sets the basis for the study of <italic>Em</italic> in human sperm allowing future work aiming to understand its role in human sperm capacitation.</p>