Bacteriological study of the cervix of females suffering from unexplained infertility

Abstract

Abstract The aim of the present study was microbiological investigation of cervical samples of females suffering from unexplained infertility. 16 women were evaluated by standard bacterial culture method. Among total cases, all showed at least one type of bacteria. In total 27 isolates were obtained and most of these bacteria were isolated several times from different specimens. Staphylococcus was the main microorganism isolated, other common microorganisms generally isolated were Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Micrococcus and Bacillus. When the effect of 24 and 48h old cell culture and cell free supernatant of cervical isolates on human motility was studied in vitro, the results showed that 63% isolates significantly decreased the sperm motility. Heat treated cell culture and cell free supernatant failed to inhibit sperm motility, suggesting the presence of heat labile proteins that may be responsible for decrease in spermatozoal motility. 5 out of 27 isolates were capable of agglutinating spermatozoa. Only washed cells/cell culture could agglutinate spermatozoa while cell free supernatant failed to do so. It seems that there may be certain ligands on bacterial cell surface responsible for sperm agglutination. These results in general suggest that, in vitro co-incubation of spermatozoa with cervical isolates does cause a significant decline in numbers of motile spermatozoa, however, what role do the microorganisms play in vivo has yet to be elucidated