A computerized spectrophotometric instrumental system to determine the “vertical velocity” of sperm cells: A novel concept

Abstract

The presently available cell motility-analyzers measure primarily the "horizontal" velocity and there is no instrument available for "vertical" velocity measurement. This development was based on the turbidimetric method of sperm motility analysis. Sperm was layered at the bottom of the cuvette containing buffer solution and exposed to the spectrophotometric light path at different heights to track the vertically moving sperms. The vertical movement was materialized with the development of an electromechanical up-down movement devise for the cuvette accomplished with the help of a cuvette holder-stepper motor-computer assembly. The entire system was controlled by the necessary motion control, data acquisition, and data processing software developed for cuvette movement and data analysis. Using goat sperm as the model a unique computer-based spectrophotometric system has been developed for the first time to determine the average "vertical" velocity of motile cells. Undertaking upward movement against gravity is much tougher as compared with horizontal movement. Consequently average vertical velocity is expected to be a much better identifying parameter for assessing semen and other motile cell quality. The novel instrumental system developed by us has thus the potential for immense application in human infertility clinics, animal-breeding centres, centres for conservation of endangered species, and also for research work on vertical velocity of spermatozoa and other motile cells, such as bacteria, protozoa, etc.