Direct Characterization of Motion-Dependent Parameters of Sperm in a Microfluidic Device: Proof of Principle

Chen, Yuan; Chen, Ken-Chao; Tsai, Vincent F.S.; Huang, Jia; Hsieh, Ju‐Ton; Wo, Andrew M.

doi:10.1373/clinchem.2012.190686

Cited by 22 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…A number of microfluidic devices have been developed for male factor infertility screening and can be used to distinguish motile sperm and measure sperm motility, motile sperm concentration, and motile sperm count (13,14). Although these devices have many advantages, they also have some limitations.…”

Section: Future Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home testing for male factor infertility: a review of current options

Kobori

2019

Fertility and Sterility

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Male factor infertility contributes to about 50% of the incidence of infertility in couples. Semen analysis is key to the diagnosis of the reproductive potential of a male subject. In current practice, men must attend a clinic or other hospital facility to have their semen analyzed. However, many men are not comfortable with this process, which they often find embarrassing and expensive. To solve these problems, many devices for home analysis of semen samples have been developed and commercialized. This review examines the literature pertaining to the currently available home semen test devices and describes their limitations and future directions. (Fertil Steril Ò 2019;111:864-70. Ó2019 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

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Section: Future Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Home testing for male factor infertility: a review of current options

Kobori

2019

Fertility and Sterility

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“…21 Microfluidics enable complete control of the physical and chemical environments surrounding the investigated biological sample and have been used in many biological applications including in vitro fertilization, [22][23][24] sperm sorting, 23,25,26 and sperm analysis. 27,28 The first of these two studies, by Tung et al, 12 reported rheotactic behavior of bull sperm in grooved microchannels mimicking the cervix walls in the female reproductive system. It was found that these grooves help sperm cells migrate against fluid flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of rheotaxis of bull sperm using microfluidics

et al. 2014

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We study rheotaxis of bull sperm inside microchannels to characterize the effects of flow and wall shape on sperm swimming behavior. We found that a large percentage of sperm cells, 80 to 84%, exhibited positive rheotaxis (sperm cells swimming against the flow) within flow velocities of 33 to 134 μm s(-1). Sperm cells were also found to reverse their swimming direction when the liquid flow direction was reversed. Time taken by sperm cells to reverse their swimming direction was inversely proportional to the flow velocity. Sperm behavior was significantly affected by the sperm position with respect to the channel wall. Sperm cells close to the channel wall moved upstream faster than sperm cells moving along the channel centerline. Shear stress, which is an indicator of velocity distribution, was found to play an important role in regulating rheotactic behavior of sperm cells. Side pockets were added to some microchannels to mimic storage sites in mucosal folds and pockets in the fallopian tube of the female reproductive system and sperm interaction with these pockets was monitored. We found that sperm cells tend to follow channel walls and enter these pockets without any chemical binding, which further confirms the wall tracking behavior of mammalian sperm cells. Our results confirm that sperm rheotaxis is a strong mechanism for guiding sperm cells towards the oocyte along the female genital tract.

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“…However, very little attention has been focused on single sperm analysis and the vast majority of studies measure sperm samples as a whole and obtain population averages. 25,26 Some studies have emerged where single sperm cells have been trapped using dielectrophoretic forces 27 and optical forces. 28 Although these systems are valuable, they lack HTP capabilities and require sophisticated equipment or fabrication steps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Make it spin: individual trapping of sperm for analysis and recovery using micro-contact printing

et al. 2014

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In this article, we describe the development of a high throughput platform to spatially manipulate viable sperm for motility measurements and recovery of the best single sperm for fertilization purposes. Micro-contact printing was used to pattern islands of adhesive proteins (fibronectin) separated by sperm repellent species (Pluronic acid F-127) on commercially available polystyrene substrates. Following washing, arrays of viable single sperm were captured onto the islands demonstrating for the first time that sperm can be trapped by micro-contact printing with patterning efficiency of 90% while retaining 100% viability. These were then subjected to motility analysis whilst remaining spatially confined to the islands. Single sperm motility was assessed (n = 37) by software analysis measuring the number of rotations per second (degrees s⁻¹). The assignment of array coordinates allows the more active single sperm to be easily identified and recovered by a simple micromanipulator pipette aspiration step with automated possibility for assisted reproductive technologies or further quality correlation analysis. Taken together, we show for the first time a technique to simultaneously screen thousands of viable single sperm for motility assessment while retaining the ability for single species recovery for enhanced fertilization purposes.

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Direct Characterization of Motion-Dependent Parameters of Sperm in a Microfluidic Device: Proof of Principle

Cited by 22 publications

References 24 publications

Home testing for male factor infertility: a review of current options

Home testing for male factor infertility: a review of current options

Characterization of rheotaxis of bull sperm using microfluidics

Make it spin: individual trapping of sperm for analysis and recovery using micro-contact printing

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