Hydrophobic soot nanoparticles as a non-cytotoxic motility activator of human spermatozoa

Abstract

The prolonged 270 min incubation of the soot in vials filled with native human ejaculate enhances the progressive sperm motility at 50–60% of tested patients (twenty in total).

Oxidative Stress and Acrosomal Status of Human Spermatozoa Subjected to Hydrophobic Carbon Soot Treatments

“…As indicated in Section 2.3 , the available soot specimens are fully explored over the last few years of active research (not all relevant literature is cited in the paper to avoid the excessive self-citation) [ 25 , 26 ]. Therefore, we will focus the discussion solely on the main morphological and chemical peculiarities of carbon nanoparticles, introduced in Figure 2 and Figure 3 .…”

“…Moreover, impaired oxidant–reductant activity is noticed in the seminal plasmas incubated with soot1–soot2–soot3 compared to the second control (see Figure 4 a), hinting at the occurrence of some interesting from scientific point-of-view chemical interactions in the ejaculates containing rapeseed oil soot. Expectedly, the incubation period of 180 min decreases the progressive sperm motility (see Figure 4 b), which decreases to ~10 ± 1% due to the depletion of nutrients in seminal plasma [ 25 ].…”

“…The native seminal fluids of four patients were collected in sterile plastic containers following masturbation and after 30 min residence in an incubator, the sperm concentration and motility in the liquefied samples were recorded by dispensing 10 µL seminal droplets in a Makler chamber and scanning three to seven fields via an SCA 6.0.0.2 Mircoptic S. L. software. Then, 200 µg of three types of previously well-characterized soot [ 25 , 26 ], labelled as soot1-soot2-soot3 , were inserted one at a time in three vials accommodating 200 µL liquefied semen, while a fourth soot-free vial was left as a control. The as-prepared suspensions were incubated for 180 min at ~37 °C, centrifugated at 2000 rpm (relative centrifugal force RCF = 268 x g , angular velocity ω = 209 rad/s) for 5 min and each supernatant (seminal plasma) was removed.…”

“…An alternative of the aforementioned methods is a recently invented nanotechnology employing hydrophobic carbon soot nanoparticles, derived by burning rapeseed oil, as a functional activator of human spermatozoa [ 25 , 26 ]. The chemically non-polar soot provides a binary mechanism for enhancing the sperm motility.…”

On the Development of Ultradurable Extremely Water-Repellent and Oleophobic Soot-Based Fabrics with Direct Relevance to Sperm Cryopreservation

“…Moreover, it seems that the soot-based interface instigates functional activation of the sperm cells and their curvilinear velocity (VCLaverage velocity measured over the actual distance elapsed by the cell) increases compared to the initial values (see the data for patient B in Table and Videos S10 and S11 in the Supporting Information). Such a result is very promising because it shows that sperm activation might be achieved not only by inserting soot in the seminal fluid, but likely via soot-coated interfaces too (including sooting of the walls of cryovials, depicted in Figure S7 in the Supporting Information). Also, the mechanically durable soot fabrics cease the passage of nanoparticles from the solid to the liquid’s bulk, which implies permanent heat transfer conditions and high reproducibility of our cryostorage method.…”