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takyon writes:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/diamond-dishes-could-boost-ivf-success-rates

For women looking to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF), a diamond petri dish could be a girl's best friend. That's one conclusion from a new study, which finds that human sperm cells live longer and move more efficiently on diamond surfaces compared with traditional polystyrene petri dishes. The researchers also discovered that shining a red light on the sperm cells improved their performance. Combining these techniques might significantly increase the chances of IVF success.

During IVF procedures, sperm is introduced to an egg in a petri dish. If the egg is successfully fertilized, the resulting zygote is implanted into the woman's uterus. The critical fertilization stage usually takes place on polystyrene, a plastic from which almost all petri dishes are made. Sperm, like most cells, exude harmful, cell-disrupting molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Inside the body, these ROS last only fractions of a second and are quickly neutralized as they bind with nearby molecules. But polystyrene naturally forms a thin, gluelike nano-layer of water on its surface, which traps the ROS.

"The sperm is stewing in its own ROS," says Andrei Sommer, a physicist who led the study while working at Ulm University in Germany and who is currently working as an independent scientist. "This longer exposure is highly, highly, highly destructive to the cell."

Genesis on diamonds II: contact with diamond enhances human sperm performance by 300% (open, DOI: 10.21037/atm.2016.08.18) (DX)

Original Submission