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Variation in recovery of motile sperm after preparation by a simple Percoll gradient technique
K F Miller1, T Falcone, J M Goldberg
1Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, USA.
Purpose:
Numerous techniques have been used to prepare sperm for assisted reproduction technology. Density-gradient centrifugation with Percoll is becoming a method of choice. This study reviewed the results of a simple two-layer discontinuous Percoll gradient.
Methods:
We reviewed retrospectively results obtained from 208 semen specimens prepared for in vitro fertilization by a discontinuous Percoll gradient.
Results:
Overall results (mean +/- SD) were a recovery of 21 +/- 16% of total sperm, recovery of 38 +/- 30% of motile sperm, and a motility in the final sperm preparation of 88 +/- 10%. Specimens with higher initial concentrations had higher motility in the final preparation. Higher total recovery and higher motility in the final preparation were found for specimens with a higher initial motility.
Conclusions:
This simple two-layer Percoll technique is rapid and inexpensive and reliably produces a final sperm preparation with desirable characteristics. Even though specimens with poor initial parameters yielded final preparations with excellent characteristics, fertilization rates were still related to the initial semen parameters.