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U-Shaped Horizontal Swimming Technique for Preparing High-Quality Sperm with Low DNA Fragmentation Index
Published on: March 28, 2025
Frozen-thawed spermatozoa from oligozoospermic ejaculates are susceptible to in situ DNA fragmentation in
Sujit Raj Salian1, Guruprasad Kalthur, Shubhashree Uppangala
1Clinical Embryology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal, India.
Objective:
To elucidate the effect of sperm immobilization media that are and are not based on polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the DNA integrity of fresh and frozen-thawed spermatozoa during standard intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) conditions.
Design:
Experimental prospective study.
Setting:
Embryology research laboratory.
Patient(S):
Forty-six ejaculates from normozoospermic and oligozoospermic men.
Intervention(S):
Assessment of sperm DNA fragmentation by single-cell gel electrophoresis assay.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
DNA integrity of fresh and frozen-thawed spermatozoa from normozoospermic and oligozoospermic ejaculates exposed to PVP-based and non-PVP-based media.
Result(S):
Exposure of fresh and frozen thawed spermatozoa from normozoospermic and oligozoospermic ejaculates to PVP-based medium in an ICSI dish for 30 minutes statistically significantly increased the DNA fragmentation. In contrast, the extent of DNA fragmentation in non-PVP-based medium did not statistically significantly differ from control.
Conclusion(S):
A PVP-based medium can induce a statistically significant amount of sperm DNA fragmentation in an ICSI dish, and frozen-thawed sperm from oligozoospermic ejaculates are more susceptible to in situ DNA fragmentation.

