Using natural sperm rheotaxis, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science
The female genital tract can be unfavorableenvironment for conception. Of the approximately 100 million spermatozoa, only a few hundred end up in the fallopian tubes. Guided by a directional movement called rheotaxis, spermatozoa swim against the flow of cervical mucus to reach the egg for fertilization. This "journey", however, is even more important when it comes to infertility. Sperm motility - the ability to swim properly - is key.
Assisted reproductive technologies such aslike in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination and intracytoplasmic sperm injection require healthy sperm for a successful outcome. Modern centrifugation methods for sperm sorting require several steps and types of equipment, and take about two hours. These methods damage sperm during processing and cause significant DNA fragmentation and oxidative stress.
Microfluidic Sperm Sorting Chip
Thanks to the new development of spermatozoa,isolated from the collecting chamber in this microfluidic chip showed significantly higher motility (nearly 100%), more morphologically normal cells, and significantly lower DNA fragmentation, which is a critical parameter for the fertilization process. In addition, the developed chip provides more than enough cells needed for a successful intracytoplasmic sperm injection due to the quantity and quality of the sperm isolated on the chip.
</ p>“Managing our chip is very easy.Once semen is loaded into the sample inlet chamber, competent spermatozoa move against the fluid flow towards the collection chamber, from where they can be easily collected,” said Wasim Asghar, Ph.D., senior author and assistant professor in the FAA Department of Electrical and Computer Science. “In addition, this chip offers a one-hour one-hour operational advantage that the operator can use with minimal training.”
The study also confirms that rheotaxis selects healthy, motile sperm at a higher rate for the fertilization process.
“The assembly of a microfluidic chip is inexpensive, and the reagentsused in a sperm separation chip is only a few milliliters in volume, so the commercial cost of the chip would be less than $5,” Asgar said.
The microfluidic chip consists of fourcylindrical chambers connected by microchannels. We are talking about chambers for liquid inlet, sample collection, inlet and waste collection. The channel between the collection chamber and the sample inlet contains microgrooves for guiding the spermatozoa in addition to fluid flow for rheotactic movement of the spermatozoa towards the collection chamber.
Shear stress inside the device is createdfluid flow using a syringe pump. The semen sample is then added to the entry chamber, from where functional spermatozoa will float towards the collection chamber, effectively separating from dead and immobile spermatozoa.
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