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Author Spotlight: Exploring the Long-Term Health Impacts of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection on Offspring
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Sperm selection by thermotaxis improves ICSI outcome in mice
Serafín Pérez-Cerezales1, Ricardo Laguna-Barraza2, Alejandro Chacón de Castro2
1Department of Animal Reproduction, INIA, Avda. Puerta de Hierro, Madrid, Spain. s.perez.cerezales@gmail.com.
Scientific Reports
|February 15, 2018
Summary
Sperm selection using thermotaxis identifies a subpopulation with higher DNA integrity. This method improves outcomes in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), leading to more successful pregnancies in mice.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive biology
- Spermatozoa research
- Assisted reproductive technologies
Background:
- Ejaculate contains a heterogeneous sperm population, with only a small fraction suitable for fertilization.
- Lack of methods to isolate optimal sperm hinders male infertility diagnosis and assisted reproduction efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To enhance intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes by selecting spermatozoa via thermotaxis.
- To characterize the subpopulation of sperm selected by thermotaxis in mice and humans.
Main Methods:
- In vitro sperm selection using thermotaxis in mouse and human samples.
- Assessment of sperm DNA integrity and chromatin compaction.
- Evaluation of embryo development and pregnancy rates following ICSI with selected sperm.
Main Results:
- Thermotaxis successfully isolated a sperm subpopulation in both mouse and human samples.
- Selected sperm exhibited superior DNA integrity and lower chromatin compaction compared to unselected sperm.
- In mice, ICSI with thermotaxis-selected sperm doubled successful pregnancies and improved embryo quality.
Conclusions:
- A high-quality sperm subpopulation can be effectively selected in vitro using thermotaxis.
- Thermotaxis-selected sperm possess characteristics indicative of superior fertilizing potential.
- This selection method holds promise for improving the efficiency of assisted reproductive technologies.
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