Separation of progressive motile sperm from mouse semen using on-chip chemotaxis.
We present a novel method for the separation of progressive motile sperm from non-progressive motile and immotile sperm. This separation was accomplished by inducing chemotaxis along a longitudinal chemical gradient in a microchip composed of a biocompatible polydimethysiloxane layer and a glass substrate. In a preliminary experiment using fluorescent rhodamine B as a marker, we verified that a chemical gradient was generated by diffusion within the microchannel. We used acetylcholine as a chemoattractant to evaluate the chemotactic response of sperm. We tested the response to a 1/2 to 1/64 dilution series of acetylcholine. The results of a mouse sperm chemotaxis assay showed that progressive motile sperm swam predominantly toward the outlet at an optimal chemical gradient of 0.625 (mg/ml)/mm of acetylcholine. This device provides a convenient, disposable, and high-throughput platform that could function as a progressive motile sperm sorter for potential use in intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Hanyang University, Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Korea.
Yong-Jun
YJ
Ko
Joon-Ho
JH
Maeng
Byung-Chul
BC
Lee
Seungwoo
S
Lee
Seung Yong
SY
Hwang
Yoomin
Y
Ahn
D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology*