Staining-free, Automated Sperm Analysis for In Vitro Fertilization Lab Use

Area of Science:

• Reproductive biology andrology
• In vitro fertilization (IVF) laboratory techniques
• Medical imaging and artificial intelligence

Background:

• Traditional sperm analysis in IVF labs relies on subjective manual observation, leading to inconsistencies.
• Current computer-aided sperm analysis systems are typically for andrology labs and require sperm staining for morphology.
• A need exists for objective, automated sperm analysis in IVF settings without staining.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an automated system for simultaneous measurement of sperm concentration, motility, and morphology.
• To assess the system's performance without the requirement of sperm staining.
• To determine the reproducibility and reliability of the automated sperm analysis system.

Main Methods:

• Utilized robust sperm tracking for automated measurement of sperm concentration and motility.
• Employed low contrast image segmentation for automated morphology assessment of live sperm.
• Evaluated measurement reproducibility using intraclass correlation coefficients and reliability via Passing and Bablok regression and Bland-Altman analysis.

Main Results:

• Automated sperm measurements demonstrated high reproducibility with intraclass correlation coefficients exceeding 0.97.
• Automated measurements were found to be interchangeable with manual benchmarking using zoomed-in images.
• The system showed high reproducibility and reliability across both semen and washed samples, including progressive and nonprogressive motility.

Conclusions:

• The developed automated sperm analysis system exhibits high reproducibility and reliability.
• This system is designed for routine application in in vitro fertilization laboratories.
• It enables quantitative sperm analysis on live samples, overcoming limitations of manual methods.