Abstract
Infertility is a significant global problem, with ART cycles increasing every year. Male factor infertility is the single most common cause of infertility in couples, and as there are no therapeutic targets for males, the only treatment option is ART, which is expensive and invasive with no guarantee of success. The development of drugs to target asthenozoospemic (low sperm motility) males is a valuable area of research, with clinical potential to improve the take home baby rate.Previous work using a Flex Station HTS assay and calcium as a surrogate for motility, identified 10 hit compounds from the UoD DDU Selleck MIH prescribables library that induced an increase in [Ca2+]i in human spermatozoa in-vitro. This thesis investigated the effect of this [Ca2+]i using techniques including CASA, Kremer tests and Flow cytometry to study compound effects on human spermatozoa motility and function. Some drugs demonstrated positive effects on spermatozoa motility characteristics, without an increase in function or AR. Furthermore, the drug compounds elicited similar positive effects on spermatozoa from subfertile patients, illustrating their clinical potential.
| Date of Award | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Christopher Barratt (Supervisor) & Sarah Martins Da Silva (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- Spermatozoa
- Motility
- Compounds