A novel microfluidic device with parallel channels for sperm separation using spermatozoa intrinsic behaviors

Heydari, Ali; Targhi, Mohammad Zabetian; Halvaei, Iman; Nosrati, Reza

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-28315-7

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…These protocols are facilitated by the purification of sperm cells from seminal plasma with swim-up techniques or, more commonly, with density gradient centrifugation based on the use of colloidal silica suspensions. More innovative sperm selection strategies including microfluidics (36) and electrophoresis (Felix ™ ; Further, smart phone technology is making semen analyses more accessible with at home YO sperm tests (41), and artificial intelligence (AI) advances have enabled new holographic 3D sperm imaging (28) and sperm quality assessment. Finally, technological advancements in omics platforms (34, 42) are permitting the identification of molecular biomarkers with which to stratify infertile patients, allowing enhanced evaluation of subfertility phenotypes, aiding our understanding of the genetic and epigenetic causes of male infertility, and potentially revolutionising fertility treatment with personalized therapeutic regimens.…”

Section: Sperm-hyaluronic Acid Bindingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New horizons in human sperm selection for assisted reproduction

Nixon

Schjenken²,

Burke³

et al. 2023

Front. Endocrinol.

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Male infertility is a commonly encountered pathology that is estimated to be a contributory factor in approximately 50% of couples seeking recourse to assisted reproductive technologies. Upon clinical presentation, such males are commonly subjected to conventional diagnostic andrological practices that rely on descriptive criteria to define their fertility based on the number of morphologically normal, motile spermatozoa encountered within their ejaculate. Despite the virtual ubiquitous adoption of such diagnostic practices, they are not without their limitations and accordingly, there is now increasing awareness of the importance of assessing sperm quality in order to more accurately predict a male’s fertility status. This realization raises the important question of which characteristics signify a high-quality, fertilization competent sperm cell. In this review, we reflect on recent advances in our mechanistic understanding of sperm biology and function, which are contributing to a growing armory of innovative approaches to diagnose and treat male infertility. In particular we review progress toward the implementation of precision medicine; the robust clinical adoption of which in the setting of fertility, currently lags well behind that of other fields of medicine. Despite this, research shows that the application of advanced technology platforms such as whole exome sequencing and proteomic analyses hold considerable promise in optimizing outcomes for the management of male infertility by uncovering and expanding our inventory of candidate infertility biomarkers, as well as those associated with recurrent pregnancy loss. Similarly, the development of advanced imaging technologies in tandem with machine learning artificial intelligence are poised to disrupt the fertility care paradigm by advancing our understanding of the molecular and biological causes of infertility to provide novel avenues for future diagnostics and treatments.

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Section: Sperm-hyaluronic Acid Bindingmentioning

confidence: 99%

New horizons in human sperm selection for assisted reproduction

Nixon

Schjenken²,

Burke³

et al. 2023

Front. Endocrinol.

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show abstract

“…They also found that the onset of upstream swimming can be described by a saddle-node bifurcation, and any microswimmers that possess front-back asymmetry and swim in circular trajectories near a surface will swim upstream above a critical shear rate. A novel micro-fluidic device that exploits the upstream swimming behavior to select sperm cells has also been designed and experimented [68,69]. Even though the motion of microswimmers is usually inertialess, their background flow could still include vortical structures (e.g., plankton swimming in lakes and oceans) and cause non-trivial influences on swimming.…”

Section: Locomotion In Complex Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and attempts to make intelligent microswimmers

Mo,

Li,

Bian

2023

Front. Phys.

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The study of microswimmers’ behavior, including their self-propulsion, interactions with the environment, and collective phenomena, has received significant attention over the past few decades due to its importance for various biological and medical applications. Microswimmers can easily access micro-fluidic channels and manipulate microscopic entities, enabling them to perform sophisticated tasks as untethered mobile microrobots inside the human body or microsize devices. Thanks to the advancements in micro/nano-technologies, a variety of synthetic and biohybrid microrobots have been designed and fabricated. Nevertheless, a key challenge arises: how to guide the microrobots to navigate through complex fluid environments and perform specific tasks. The model-free reinforcement learning (RL) technique appears to be a promising approach to address this problem. In this review article, we will first illustrate the complexities that microswimmers may face in realistic biological fluid environments. Subsequently, we will present recent experimental advancements in fabricating intelligent microswimmers using physical intelligence and biohybrid techniques. We then introduce several popular RL algorithms and summarize the recent progress for RL-powered microswimmers. Finally, the limitations and perspectives of the current studies in this field will be discussed.

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“…24 Microfluidic devices have recently demonstrated astounding potential for mimicking the aforementioned natural selection processes, offering feasible sperm sorting and screening approaches with minimized collateral damage compared with conventional methods. [25][26][27][28][29][30] For instance, Yan et al implemented a microfluidic chip using chemotaxis and thermotaxis behaviors to separate sperms responsive to thermal and chemical gradients. 31 Zaferani et al demonstrated a design where the sample is injected into a straight microfluidic channel with corral-shaped structures in the middle, creating rheotaxis zones where sperms could swim against the flow, allowing sperms to enter and stay in the corrals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%