Here we describe an improved method of separating sperm cells from lysed epithelial cells via acoustic cell trapping. In particular, we show that in the processing of samples with low numbers of sperm cells, addition of polymeric beads to the sample[1] allowed for better performance in terms of higher trapping efficiency versus our previous acoustic differential extraction (ADE) results[2]. We ...

Controversy still surrounds the human serum albumin (HSA) method for separation of X- and Y-bearing human spermatozoa. There is doubt about whether the procedure does enrich sperm samples for the chosen sex chromosome. We have applied the HSA separation method in a clinic in Hong Kong, using the method as described by Ericsson et al. [Nature, 246, 421-424 (1973)] taking care to keep the sperm r...

Among most animals with internal fertilization, females store sperm in specific regions of their reproductive tract for later use. Sperm storage enables prolonged fertility, physical and temporal separation of mating from fertilization and, when females mate with multiple males, opportunities for differential use of the various males' sperm. Thus, stored sperm move within the female reproductiv...

It is estimated that as many as 30,000 offspring, mostly cattle, have been produced in the past 5 years using AI or some other means of transport with spermatozoa sexed by flow cytometric sperm sorting and DNA as the marker of differentiation. It is well documented that the only marker in sperm that can be effectively used for the separation of X- and Y-chromosome bearing spermatozoa is DNA. Th...

The birth of Louise Brown, the fi rst human who was born on 25 July 1978 after the application of assisted reproduction techniques hallmarks the advent of the era of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the human [ 1 ]. The fi rst in vitro fertilization (IVF) cases, including that of Louise Brown, were performed to treat female tubal infertility. Subsequently, the demand for assisted repro...

The mechanisms responsible for mediating the influence of sperm preparation protocols on human sperm function have been investigated. Techniques that involved the separation of motile spermatozoa prior to centrifugation were found to yield sperm suspensions of highest quality. If the spermatozoa were centrifuged prior to isolation of the motile cells, sperm function was impaired. The detrimenta...

This work presents a specifically designed spiral type inertial micro-fluidic channel for separating non-motile sperm cell from cellular debris. Demonstration with a mixture of non-motile sperm and red blood cells showed that 82% of sperm could be focused into a separate outlet from the red blood cells.

BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) anomalies in sperm may lead to infertility. Point mutations, deletions and the presence of a specific mtDNA haplogroup have been associated with poor sperm quality, but little attention has been paid to the role of mtDNA content. METHODS Using density gradient separation and swim-up methods, we selected motile sperm from 3...