A team from Florida Atlantic University has developed a microfluidic chip that makes it possible to easily, quickly and cheaply select healthy sperm from a semen sample.
Assisted reproductive technologies require healthy sperm for a successful outcome. The invention takes advantage of rheotaxis, as the natural countercurrent movement of sperm through the female genital tract is called in order to reach the egg for fertilization. The creators of the chip say it outperforms the most common current method of sperm selection, What is centrifugation? According to a study published in the journal Analyst of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, sperm isolated with this microfluidic chip had significantly higher motility (almost 100%), a higher number of morphologically normal cells and DNA fragmentation substantially lower, says a statement.
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