Antibiotics and sperm preparation

Antibiotics are not included in our products for several reasons. Penicillin G, a commonly used antibiotic in cell culture medium, only lasts for approximately 10 days in aqueous solution, being inactivated after this time and the degradation products are cell-toxic. Furthermore, this antibiotic is ineffective against some of the bacteria most commonly found in semen. Streptomycin and gentamycin are cytotoxic. Gentamicin, in particular, has been shown to be toxic to embryos.

For most situations Nidacon recommends using a discontinuous density gradient for preparing human sperm from semen. The gradient will remove most, if not all, of the bacterial contamination present in the ejaculate. However, many customers at some time need to use the swim-up technique and the most ideal product for this purpose is PureSperm® Wash.

Tips and Tricks:

PureSperm® Wash is a salt solution balanced and adjusted for the nutrition and long survival of human sperm. It functions exceedingly well for the swim-up technique.
Since PureSperm® Wash does not contain any antibiotics and since swim-up cannot guarantee removal of bacterial contamination, it is recommended to add antibiotics when using swim-up to prepare sperm for ART. We recommend that you add Penicillin at a concentration of 100 U/ mL.