Monash researchers isolate high-quality sperm using acoustic waves
Monash University researchers have combined acoustic waves and fluid dynamics to create a new approach for separating high-quality sperm in assisted reproduction - opening new windows for infertile couples to have a family of their own.
Monash University researchers have combined acoustic waves and fluid dynamics to create a new approach for separating high-quality sperm in assisted reproduction - opening new windows for infertile couples to have a family of their own.
This rapid and automated acoustofluidic process, developed by a team from Monash University's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, can isolate sperm with normal head morphology and high DNA integrity from raw semen samples.
The device can process roughly 140 sperm per second and select more than 60,000 high-quality sperm in under 50 minutes - a clinically-relevant number of sperm to perform IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) and ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection).
This life-changing research, published in the leading microfluidic journalLab on a Chip, was led by second-year Ph.D. student Ms Junyang Gai. The work has been supervised by Dr Reza Nosrati and Professor Adrian Neild - experts in microfluidics from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
With the application of SSAW (standing surface acoustic waves) at 19.28 MHz and 1-2W, the acoustic radiation force was large enough to overcome the drag and guide the motile sperm to swim across the microchannel width, while other sperm and debris followed the mainstream flow to be collected from the discarded outlet.
This enabled a continuous, high-throughput, and size-dependent selection process for isolating high-quality sperm.
"Our results demonstrate that the selected sperm population exhibit a considerably higher percentage of progressively motile sperm (83 per cent), than both the initial raw sample (52 per cent) and the discarded subpopulation of sperm (36 per cent)," Ms Gai said.
The result is the selection of sperm with over 60 per cent improvement in progressive motility (the ability for sperm to move independently), while providing a clinically-relevant sample for IVF and ICSI. Sperm selected from this approach also show a near 40 per cent improvement in DNA integrity.
Dr Nosrati says the success rate depends on many different parameters, but ultimately, it is down to the quality of sperm and egg.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20201207/Monash-researchers-isolate-high-quality-sperm-using-acoustic-waves.aspx
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