Abstract:
The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of crude extract of a Sri
Lankan marine sponge, Spongionefla sp. on the motility of human spermatozoa
in vitro. The solvent system used for the extraction was dichloromethanemethanol
(1 : 1)and the concentrations tested were 3, 6, 12.5,25 and 125 mg/ml
The period of study was 60 min. The results show that the extract inhibited
motility of sperm both in a dose - and time - dependent manner. Furthermore
at higher concentrations, the extract caused complete immobilization of sperm.
Accompanied with the impairment of motility there was also a curling of
sperm tails and an agglutination of sperm heads.
