Development of a microchamber which spontaneously selects high-quality sperm for use in in vitro fertilization or micromanipulation.

Abstract

A microchamber has been developed which allows motile sperm to swim from a central loading site to peripheral sidewells. The sidewells are designed such that oocytes may be placed within them for in vitro fertilization (IVF) or sperm may be harvested from them for use in standard IVF or micromanipulation. Because only motile sperm can reach the sidewells, the microchamber can select relatively high-quality sperm from a crude preparation. Moreover the steep walls of the sidewells create the potential to trap sperm. The present study was under taken to compare sperm in the sidewells to those found in randomly sampled regions of microchamber after various periods of incubation. We find that the sidewells concentrate motile sperm and that a higher percentage of sperm removed from sidewells is acrosome reacted. Motile sperm from oligospermic patients can be harvested from microchamber sidewells for use in micromanipulation after loading the microchamber with unprocessed specimens. Results suggest that this microchamber could be used to enhance sperm:egg interaction in IVF or to harvest sperm for micromanipulation.