Isolation of motile spermatozoa from semen samples using microfluidics

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Biology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Sperm sorting is crucial for assisted reproductive technologies.
• Current methods like density gradient centrifugation can be time-consuming and may affect sperm viability.
• There is a need for non-centrifugation-based sperm isolation techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a novel microfluidic device for isolating motile and morphologically normal spermatozoa.
• To assess the impact of the microfluidic device materials on sperm motility.
• To demonstrate the device's efficacy in purifying sperm samples with high contamination.

Main Methods:

• A microfluidic device with two parallel laminar flow channels was designed.
• Motile and non-motile sperm were separated based on their swimming behavior in fluid streams.
• Sperm motility and morphology were assessed after exposure to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and after sorting.

Main Results:

• Exposure to PDMS did not significantly affect sperm motility.
• The microfluidic device significantly increased sperm motility from 44% to 98% and morphology from 10% to 22%.
• The device successfully improved the ratio of motile spermatozoa to immature germ cells from 1:10 to 33:1.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic device offers a novel, non-centrifugation method for isolating motile, morphologically normal spermatozoa.
• This technology shows promise for isolating viable sperm from oligozoospermic samples with significant contamination.
• The device could be a valuable tool in fertility treatments and diagnostics.