title: Automated sperm concentration analysis with a new flow cytometry-based device, S-FCM.
abstract: The S-FCM uses flow cytometry technology to measure sperm concentrations. Semen samples from 104 men attending a male infertility clinic were used to evaluate the reproducibility of results and the carryover rate with the S-FCM by performing between- and within-run imprecision analyses. In addition, sperm concentrations measured with the S-FCM were compared with those obtained by manual analyses with the Makler chamber and the improved Neubauer hemacytometer. The results showed that automated analyses with the S-FCM were highly reproducible and the carryover rate was 0.17% or less. In within-run imprecision assays, the coefficients of variation for the S-FCM were less than 5% at all sperm concentrations, while those for the Makler chamber were between 17.7% and 28.7% at lower sperm concentrations. The overall correlation between values measured with the S-FCM and those measured with the Makler chamber and improved Neubauer hemacytometer was excellent, but at lower sperm concentrations the correlation was lower. The S-FCM performed sperm concentration analyses in 110 seconds compared with 5 minutes for the Makler chamber and 10 minutes for the improved Neubauer hemacytometer. The S-FCM is suitable for quantitative measurement of lower sperm concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamidono
mesh_terms: D001322:Autoanalysis; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male; D008297:Male; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013076:Sperm Count