Forensic techniques for the isolation of spermatozoa from sexual assault samples - A review

The challenge of profiling spermatozoa from samples containing a mixture of male and female cells has been extensively discussed within the forensic community. Various techniques have been developed for the analysis of sexual assault evidence with the aim to generate a single-source male DNA profile. Multiple methods practiced for the isolation of the male component are discussed in this review, with a focus on differential extraction. Benefits of alterations that have been made to the original differential method to increase the efficiency are highlighted. Although improvements were achieved, it is ascertained by this review that these methods are limited in their overall success rate or their applicability. Perhaps future approaches and research should concentrate on more efficient, cost-effective, and time-saving techniques to individually sort or isolate spermatozoa.