When couples have difficulty conceiving a child due to poor sperm quality, IVF is always an option, but often unsuccessful. A simple new device that selects only the best sperm to do the job can help.
first there that is Methods have already been established to isolate the hardest-swimming sperm from unexploded ordnance.
In one technique, known as swim-up, a sperm-receiving medium is placed over a semen sample in a test tube and left for about an hour. Only the healthiest sperm swim up to that medium where they can be collected.
Another technique, called density gradient centrifugation, involves filling test tubes with liquids of different densities and placing a semen sample on top. When the tube is spun in a centrifuge, the healthiest sperm move through the dense liquid to the bottom of the tube, and the weakest sperm are trapped in the upper layer.
Unfortunately, both methods can lead to DNA fragmentation and cell death due to the introduction of reactive oxygen species, according to scientists at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. That’s where a new 3D-printed disk-shaped polymer device comes in.
Designed to replicate the female reproductive tract, it incorporates reservoirs along the outside that are connected to a central collection well by intricate microfluidic channels. The idea is that when a semen sample is placed in the reservoir, only the strongest and most viable sperm will pass through the channel to reach the well and function as intended.
“We have done extensive testing for conventional in vitro fertilization [in-vitro fertilization] This new method improved DNA integrity by 85% and reduced sperm cell death by an average of 90%,” said lead scientist Professor Majid Warkiani. than traditional methods. “
The study is described in a paper recently published in the journal. Nature: Microsystems and Nanoengineering.
Source: University of Technology, Sydney
