Genesis on diamonds II: contact with diamond enhances human sperm performance by 300%

Diamonds are for men, too

“…This picture is consistent with the results of numerous experiments performed on model surfaces. In our editorial (1) we concluded that on hydrophilic polystyrene (Petri dish) the interfacial water layer acts as a scavenger for ROS molecules escaping from oxidatively stressed cells (Figure 2). Conforming to the viscous consistency of the interfacial water at the bottom of the plastic, ROS molecules were predicted to stick to the glue film, thereby experiencing an extension of their lifetime.…”

“…ROS molecules accumulating in this way are likely to exert additional stress on cells in vitro. Absence of a ROS scavenger film on diamond provides a plausible explanation to the 300% gain in sperm motility observed on the diamond Petri dishes (1). An interesting alternative model attempting to explain to the 300% gain in progressive sperm motility on diamond, compared to the continuous loss in motility on polystyrene Petri dishes, is proposed by the Batsanov group (3): "Can it be related to diamond surface having a unique property of negative electron affinity (18), thus readily releasing electrons into water?".…”

“…The results of a simple in vitro experiment presented 2016 in an editorial (1) were commented in Science (2) and later in three editorials (3)(4)(5). What makes those results to be interesting?…”

Editorial on “Genesis on diamonds II: contact with diamond enhances human sperm performance by 300%”

“…This softening makes the surface a trap for ROS which form a cell-damaging nanolayer and aggravate the damage further by increasing water viscosity. The recommended (and tested) answer was to replace polystyrene Petri dish with a CVD-nanodiamond coated quartz one, which, indeed, greatly improved the survival rate of sperm cells (5,19). Admittedly, the title of the paper (5) is something of a misnomer: diamond is not enhancing sperm performance in an absolute sense, but rather doing less damage to it, relative to polystyrene surfaces.…”

“…In the first place, strict uniformity of nanodiamond Petri dishes used in research and clinical practice must be assured. It is therefore unfortunate that the papers (5,18,19) do not describe how these coatings were made, although detailed information can be found in the thesis of Zhu (24), which is available online.…”