Sperm Immobilizing Bacteria and their Role in Infertility: An In Vivo Study

Sperm Immobilizing Bacteria and their Role in Infertility: An In Vivo Study

The negative consequence of E. coli and S. aureus on spermatozoa in vitro has been annotated but their cause-effect relationship in infertility is open to question. On studying the normal vaginal microflora of mice, S. aureus and E. coli which had the property of sperm immobilization and induced death in spermatozoa within 2 hours of co-incubation were predominantly found. Post mating, mice harbouring these strains as their indigenous flora at a bacterial load of 103 cfu gm-1 of the vaginal tissue delivered pups. These indigenous strains were also grown in vitro and then inoculated intravaginally in mice at a higher dose of 108 cfu 20 μl-1 for 10 consecutive days. These mice were rendered infertile, suggesting a role of threshold number of these organisms. Another study performed in mice de-colonized with ciprofloxacin at a dose of 10 mg kg-1 of body weight to study the role of standard and clinical isolates of sperm immobilizing E. coli and S. aureus by intra-vaginal inoculation at a dose of 10 8 cfu 20 μl-1 for 10 consecutive days was done.