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Optimization of Dean flow microfluidic chip for sperm preparation for intrauterine insemination

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Abstract

Sperm preparation is a necessary step in all methods of assisted reproductive technology. Here, we demonstrate the utility of a microfluidic spiral channel device for preparation of sperm for intrauterine insemination (IUI) directly from semen samples. After optimization of operating conditions, we use data from 130 washed semen samples to show that the microfluidic chip can retain 89% of all sperm cells and 90% of motile sperm cells, while removing 40% of the fluid volume and 82% of white blood cells. Then, we show that, when combined with a centrifugal wash, the microfluidic chip can be used in a protocol for sperm preparation. This protocol is capable of selecting 40–70% of motile sperm in 15 min. Compared to the clinical gold standard, density gradient centrifugation, this offers a higher sperm recovery, a gentler approach, and reduced reagent costs.

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Acknowledgements

AJ acknowledges funding by the Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation Grant 1747505. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44HD095355. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Alex Jafek, Haidong Feng & Bruce Gale

  2. Department of Surgery-Urology, University of Utah Andrology and IVF Laboratories, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Dallin Broberg, Kenneth Aston & Timothy Jenkins

  3. Nanonc Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Raheel Samuel

  4. Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University Provo, Provo, UT, USA

    Timothy Jenkins

Authors
  1. Alex Jafek
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  2. Haidong Feng
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  3. Dallin Broberg
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  4. Bruce Gale
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  5. Raheel Samuel
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  6. Kenneth Aston
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  7. Timothy Jenkins
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Contributions

AJ: collected and analyzed experimental data and wrote the main manuscript text; HF: designed and fabricated microfluidic chips; DB: assisted in sample acquisition and experimentation; BG and RS: directed the research; KA and TJ: provided medical supervision. All authors have read the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bruce Gale.

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BG, RS, KA, and TJ have partial ownership of Nanonc, Inc.

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Jafek, A., Feng, H., Broberg, D. et al. Optimization of Dean flow microfluidic chip for sperm preparation for intrauterine insemination. Microfluid Nanofluid 24, 60 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-020-02366-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-020-02366-y

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