FERTILITY AND STERILITY Vol. 38, No.

6, December 1982
Copyright c 1982 The American Fertility Society Printed in U.SA.

Effect of saliva on sperm motility and activity

Togas Tulandi, M.D.*

Leo Plouffe, Jr., M.D.t
Robert A. Mcinnes, M.D.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University,

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Infertile couples frequently experience sexual dysfunction during their infertility

investigations, including inadequate vaginal lubrication. In an attempt to look for a
lubricant that would not impair sperm motility and activity, saliva was added to
normal semen from healthy male donors. Saliva induced a "shaking movement'' in
12% of the total sperm population incubated with high concentrations of saliva. This
phenomenon did not occur with low concentrations of saliva, but sperm motility and
progression significantly decreased. The results indicate that saliva has a deleterious
effect on sperm motility and activity and should not be encouraged cis a vaginal
lubricant for the infertile couple. Fertil Steril38:721, 1982

During their infertility investigations and
treatment, infertile couples frequently experience
sexual dysfunction that includes inadequate vag-
inal lubrication. 1 Commercial vaginal lubricants
are all spermicidal and should not be used by
infertile couples. 2 • 3 Saliva has been recom-
mended as a lubricant for these couples.4 The
purpose of this study was to examine the effect of
saliva on the sperm motility and activity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
EXPERIMENT 1
This study was designed to evaluate the effect
of saliva on the motility and activity of sperm.
Ejaculate from 38 healthy fertile men (donors in
Received February 15, 1982; revised and accepted August 4,
1982.
*Reprint requests: Togas Tulandi, M.D., Infertility Center,
Royal Victoria Hospital, 687 Pine Avenue West, Montreal,
Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada.
:f:Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
an artificial insemination program) were collect-
ed in clean glass vials by masturbation after 3
days of abstinence. The donors were all in their
early 20s. All samples that fulfilled our criteria as
good donor specimens were incorporated in the
study: that is, the concentration of sperm was
above 50 million/ml, motility was greater than
60%, there was greater than 60% viability, and
there was less than 10% abnormal forms. Experi-
ments were performed at room temperature (25°
C) within 1 hour of ejaculation. From each sam-
ple, 0.5 ml of semen was transferred into each of
two test tubes, and 0.1 ml of saliva or 0.1 ml of
physiologic saline was added. The final concen-
tration of saliva in the semen was therefore 20%.
The saliva (pH 7) was obtained from four healthy
male volunteers and two healthy female volun-
teers. The percentage of sperm motility and the
percentage of forward progression were then de-
termined regularly for 2 hours with standard
methods by direct microscopic observation. 5
EXPERIMENT 2
To determine the effect of different concentra-
tions of saliva on sperm motility and activity, the

Vol. 38, No.6, December 1982 Tulandi et al. Effect of saliva on sperm motility 721
 100
90
t , - , - • - 1 - - - - !--------- 5 80
-
>-

0
80
70
80
',
'·i----t
--------t----
-;;;
.,
~ 60
Cl
·\ - - - · - - · 1--------------t

E 50 ----! ...c.0 \
\

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CD
c. a;
rn c. 't---- _,_------ -t----
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0 15 30 60 120 0 15 30 60 120
p < 0.001 Time (minutes) p<0.01 Time (minutes)

Figure 1
Decrease in the percentage of motility with time in specimens
incubated with saliva (broken line), in comparison with con-
trol specimens (solid line). Each point represents the mean
value of 38 specimens and the standard error, as indicated by
the bar.
Figure 2
Decrease in the percentage of forward progression with time
in specimens incubated with saliva (broken line), in compari-
son with control specimens (solid line). Each point represents
the mean value of 38 specimens and the standard error, as
indicated by the bar.

following experiment was performed. From each A change in the movement pattern was also
of ten male donors 0.5 ml of semen was treated seen in 29 of 38 samples to which saliva had been
with different amounts of saliva, giving final sali- added. In these, approximately 12% of the total
va concentrations in the semen of 20%, 10%, 4%, sperm population showed "shaking movement"
2%, and 1%. The percentage of sperm motility and (vibrational motion without forward movement)
forward progression were determined regularly as early as 15 minutes after incubation with sali-
for 30 minutes. The results were statistically ana- va. There was no observed increase in shaking
lyzed, and the significance was determined by movement with longer incubation periods. In the
Student's t-test and analysis of variance. control specimens, this pattern of sperm move-
ment was not seen.
The deleterious effect of saliva from the six dif-
RESULTS
ferent volunteers was not sex-specific (Fig. 3).
There was no significant difference in the effect of
EXPERIMENT 1
saliva from the four male volunteers, compared
In all semen samples, saliva reduced sperm mo- with saliva from the two female volunteers.
tility and progression (Fig. 1). Sperm motility de-
creased markedly 15 minutes after incubation
with saliva (P < 0.001). A further decrease in the
percentage of motility occurred at a slower rate
(P < 0.01) (Fig. 1). No significant change in mo-
tility was found in the control specimens during
the first 60 minutes of incubation. At 120 min-
utes, the percentage of motility was significantly
lower (P < 0.01); however, this decrease of about
5% per hour was physiologically normal. 4 • 6
Sperm progression when saliva was added to
the samples deteriorated in the similar manner
(Fig. 2). There was a dramatic decrease in the
sperm progression in the first 15 minutes after
incubation with saliva (P < 0.001). A slower rate Saliva #I #II #Ill #IV #V* #VI*
(n=8) (n:8) (n:8) (n:8) (n:7) (n:7)
of decrease in the percentage of progression was
Time (minutes)
observed thereafter (P < 0.01). No significant
decrease in the percentage of sperm progression Figure 3
Effect of saliva from six volunteers on sperm motility. A de-
occurred in the control specimen during the 2 crease in sperm motility was seen consistently in all groups.
hours. *Saliva from female volunteers.

722 Tulandi et al. Effect of saliva on sperm motility Fertility and Sterility
Table 1. Effect of Different Concentrations of Saliva on Sperm Motility and Progression
Minutes after incubation
Saliva concentration 15 30
in the semen
% Motility ± SEM % Progression ± SEM % Motility ± SEM % Progt·ession ± SEM

0% (Control) 69.4 ± 2.6 67.0 ± 1.7 69.0 ± 1.8 66.2 ± 1.8

1% 66.6 ± 2.8 63.8 ± 7.4 66.3 ± 2.5 60.9 ± 4.1
2% 66.3 ± 2.6 60.8 ± 2.4a 63.8 ± 3.~ 60.0 ± 2.5a
4% 66.3 ± 2.3 58.8 ± 1.6b 60.6 ± 1.5c 54.4 ± 3.2b
10% 61.9 ± 2.1a 57.5 ± 1.3c 58.7 ± 2.3c 51.3 ± 2.4c
20% 54.4 ± 3.8b 48.1 ± 4.4c 51.3 ± 2.6c 38.1 ± 1.9c

ap < 0.05.
bp < 0.01.
cp < 0.001.

EXPERIMENT 2 Other substances such as petroleum jelly or glyc-

Low concentrations of saliva were found to im-
pair sperm motility and progression. Sperm mo-
tility and progression decreased significantly 30
minutes after incubation with 2% of saliva (Table
1). Only with high concentrations of saliva (10%
and 20%) was there an increase in shaking move-
ment.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study demonstrate that sali-
va has deleterious effects on sperm motility and
activity. Saliva has been reported to have some
antibacterial action, 7 perhaps due to the presence
of thiocyanate ions and enzymes that are bacteri-
cidal. It is possible for the same mechanism to
produce its "spermicidal" effects on the sperm.
Dougherty et al. 8 have shown that incubation of
semen with high, but not with low, concentra-
tions of amylase decrease the sperm motility. Sa-
liva contains salivary amylase. 9 Whether the
amylase, per se, accounts for the deleterious effect
of saliva on sperm motility requires further inves-
tigation.
This study demonstrates clearly that the saliva
impairs sperm motility and activity. Therefore,
although saliva is a physiologic solution and
readily available, it should not be encouraged as a
vaginal lubricant for the infertile couple. The
same recommendation could be applied to the use
of saliva to liquefy semen with high viscosity.
10. Goldenberg RL, WhiteR: The effect of vaginal lubricants
erin have minimal detrimental effects on the mo-
tility and have been suggested as lubricants for
infertile couples. 10 Raw egg white has also been
recommended. 4 Further study is required to clari-
fy this matter.
Acknowledgments. The authors wish to express their appre-
ciation to Johanne Duron for her technical assistance, and to
Norma LaFleur for her secretarial assistance.
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2. Togatz GE, Okagaki T, Sciarra JJ: The effect of vaginal
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Vol. 38, No.6, December 1982 Tulandi et al. Effect of saliva on sperm motility 723