Toxic town: ART disinfectants damage human sperms: An investigation into potential toxicity of ART disinfectants on human sperms

Abstract

Aim: To investigate toxicity of disinfectants using human sperm motility assay (HSMA) in order to establish universal disinfection protocol, safe by all means for ART set up. Methods: Semen samples obtained from normospermic men and processed through density gradient, pellet was resuspended in 5ml of KSOM handling medium and motility assessed at 0 hours. The replicate splitted equally into five 1ml aliquots.In direct contact trial, four test tubes treated by adding 0.5ml of each disinfectant simultaneously ( 70% Ethanol, Fertisafe, Fertisafe Plus & Farmacidal ) directly, one test tube without disinfectant being a control. Results: Human sperm motility was lost after 24hrs of direct contact trial treatment with disinfectants as compared to control (p<0.01). Sperm motility lost was more than 90 percent after 24hrs of direct contacttrial of disinfectants. Conclusion: Significant association of disinfectant use in ART setup and loss of sperm motility was found in direct contacttrial.