Comparing the merits of a novel electrophoretic sperm sorting system and conventional density gradient sperm centrifugation in assisted reproduction programs.
An assisted reproduction tool designed to sort sperm according to quality is no more effective than standard selection by centrifugation, but may save time, findings from a prospective controlled trial indicate.

Sperm to be used in assisted reproduction techniques are usually separated from seminal fluid by discontinuous density gradient centrifugation (DGC). However, Steven Fleming (Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia) and colleagues note that the technique does not sort sperm for quality, unlike a recently developed electrophoretic filtration system that can separate sperm according to extent of DNA damage.

To test the value of the electrophoretic system, the researchers separated semen samples from 28 couples undergoing IVF for preparation by both conventional DGC and electrophoretic filtration.

The authors report that sperm recovery, motility, and DNA fragmentation were similar in sperm isolated using the two techniques.

Electrophoretic filtration and DGC also led to similar rates of fertilization (62.4 and 63.6 percent, respectively), cleavage (99.0 percent vs 88.5 percent), and numbers of high quality embryos (27.4 percent vs 26.1 percent).

“Membrane-based electrophoresis is an efficient and reliable means of sperm preparation that is as effective as DGC,” summarize Fleming et al.

“It is also an intrinsically faster and simpler method of sperm preparation, involving a shorter learning curve,” the researchers add.