Polystyrene Petri dishes are today standard in laboratories conducting in vitro fertilization (IVF). Here we proceed and extend the investigation to human spermatozoa and show that their performance (vitality) on polystyrene Petri dishes is low compared to that on diamond Petri dishes. This work may propel further research and inspire the development of a new generation of cell-friendly Petri dishes.

Diamonds Are a Sperm's Best Friend

"Poor sperm performance" is a common problem in in vitro fertilization (IVF), but new research suggests that it might not be all the little guys' fault. It turns out that when your standard polystyrene petri dish gets wet, its surface softens into a toxic goo that might be damaging cells. Coat a quartz petri dish with a nanolayer of diamond, however, and you've created a cellular safe haven. A much higher percentage of sperm survived for 42 hours in diamond-coated petri dishes like the ones pictured above than in the polystyrene containers usually used for IVF (...).

Sommer kommentierte 2010 einen Artikel in Nature über die Verfälschung von Resultaten durch Chemikalien, die unbemerkt aus Plastik-Reagenzgläsern lecken. Für das Recht, den Kommentar zu lesen, will Nature 30 Euro.