Review on Sperm Sorting Technologies and Sperm Properties toward New Separation Methods via the Interface of Biochemistry and Material Science

Abstract

Successful fertilization in mammals requires spermatozoa to efficiently traverse the female reproductive tract to meet the egg. This process naturally selects high quality sperm cells for fertilization, but when artificial reproductive technologies are used such as in vitro fertilization, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or intrauterine insemination, other methods of sperm selection are required. Currently, technology enables sperm sorting based on motility, maturity as defined by zeta potential or hyaluronic acid binding site expression, absence of apoptotic factors, appropriate morphology, and even sex. This review summarizes current knowledge on all known methods of sperm cell sorting, compares their efficiency, and discusses the advantages and limitations of each technique. Scope for further refinement and improvement of current methods are discussed as is the potential to utilize a variety of materials to innovate new methods of sperm separation.

Oxidative stress and use of antioxidants in fish semen cryopreservation

“…2010; Katigbak et al . 2019), these previous findings have shown that this technique can be considered as a potential tool for the optimisation of fish semen cryopreservation.…”

“…Although sperm separation methods are mainly used in mammals (Kim et al 2010;Katigbak et al 2019), these previous findings have shown that this technique can be considered as a potential tool for the optimisation of fish semen cryopreservation. In a historical context, the release of protein components into the extracellular medium during cryopreservation was described for blood cells and sperm in the 1980s.…”

RNA beacons for detecting the human testis-determining factor

“…In this case, the difference between the size of the X and Y chromosomes in spermatozoa is detected by the Hoechst 33342 stain using a flow cytometer (Johnson et al 1993; Sumner and Robinson 1976). However, the principal issue with this technique is the possibility of decreasing the sperm DNA integrity caused by the dye (Katigbak et al 2019). Under this scenario, TDF and TDF-binding aptamer beacons could be used for sex selection.…”

Bovine semen sexing: Sperm membrane proteomics as candidates for immunological selection of X‐ and Y‐chromosome‐bearing sperm

“…The use of FACS for sex‐sorting provided new opportunities to the study of X‐ and Y‐sperm populations, allowing the investigation of molecular properties that can be used to design new methods of sex selection. Immunological methods have emerged for sexing sperm, based on differences in protein expression of X‐ and Y‐sperm (Katigbak et al., 2019; Yadav et al., 2017). This promising technology is based on the assumption that the genomic differences among X‐ and Y‐sperm might result in protein and functional differences as well, and that the gene product is confined to the sperm carrying that chromosome (Howes et al., 1997).…”

“…The search for the identification of specific proteins in X‐ and Y‐sperm has required several improved techniques, especially proteomics which has been considered a crucial tool in several studies involving sperm (Katigbak et al., 2019; Yadav et al., 2017). It allowed the identification of protein snapshots in different infertility‐related conditions, as well as to differentiate X‐ and Y‐sperm (De Canio et al., 2014; Yadav et al., 2017).…”