Skip to main content

Human Sperm Tracking, Analysis, and Manipulation

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Smart Materials-Based Actuators at the Micro/Nano-Scale

Abstract

Sperm analysis and manipulation play a significant role in biology research and reproductive medicine (assisted reproductive technologies). This chapter reviews computer vision-based sperm tracking methods, sperm analysis techniques, and automated sperm manipulation. Based on computer vision tracking of sperm head and sperm tail, sperm motility can be quantified by calculating the sperm’s straight line velocity, curvilinear velocity, moving path linearity, and the sperm tail beating amplitude. Conventional computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) systems are capable of performing some of these tasks. Recent progress in this field provides additional, enhanced capabilities to biologists and clinical embryologists. This chapter also introduces recent progress in automating sperm manipulation procedures, including sperm immobilization, aspiration, and positioning inside a micropipette.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. D.F. Katz, J.W. Overstreet, S.J. Samuels, P.W. Niswander, T.D. Bloom, E.L. Lewis, Morphometric analysis of spermatozoa in the assessment of human male fertility. J. Androl. 7, 203–210 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  2. G. Palermo, H. Joris, P. Devroey, A.C. Van Steirteghem, Pregnancies after intracytoplasmic injection of single spermatozoon into an oocyte. Lancet 340, 17–18 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. T.G. Cooper et al., World Health Organization reference values for human semen characteristics. Hum. Reprod. Update 16, 231–245 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. B. Bartoov, A. Berkovitz, F. Eltes, A. Kogosovsky, A. Yagoda, H. Lederman, S. Artzi, M. Gross, Y. Barak, Pregnancy rates are higher with intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection than with conventional intracytoplasmic injection. Fertil. Steril. 80, 1413–1419 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. H.E. Chemes, Sperm pathology: a step beyond descriptive morphology. Origin, characterization and fertility potential of abnormal sperm phenotypes in infertile men. Hum. Reprod. Update 9, 405–428 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  6. J. Tesarik, C. Mendoza, E. Greco, Paternal effects acting during the first cell cycle of human preimplantation development after ICSI. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 17, 184–189 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  7. A. De Vos, H. Van De Velde, H. Joris, G. Verheyen, P. Devroey, A. Van Steirteghem, Influence of individual sperm morphology on fertilization, embryo morphology, and pregnancy outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Fertil. Steril. 79, 42–48 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. G. Huszar, C.C. Ozenci, S. Cayli, Z. Zavaczki, E. Hansch, L. Vigue, Hyaluronic acid binding by human sperm indicates cellular maturity, viability, and unreacted acrosomal status. Fertil. Steril. 79, 1616–1624 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. A. Jakab, D. Sakkas, E. Delpiano, S. Cayli, E. Kovanci, D. Ward, A. Ravelli, G. Huszar, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a novel selection method for sperm with normal frequency of chromosomal aneuploidies. Fertil. Steril. 84, 1665–1673 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. A. Yagci, W. Murk, J. Stronk, G. Huszar, Spermatozoa bound to solid state hyaluronic acid show chromatin structure with high DNA chain integrity: an acridine orange fluorescence study. J. Androl. 31, 566–572 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. R.P. Amann, D.F. Katz, Reflections on CASA after 25 years. J. Androl. 25, 317–325 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  12. L.Z. Shi, J.M. Nascimento, M.W. Berns, E.L. Botvinick, Computer-based tracking of single sperm. J. Biomed. Optic. 11, 054009 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. V.R. Nafisi, M.H. Moradi, M.H. Nasr-Esfahani, A template matching algorithm for sperm tracking and classification. Physiol. Meas. 26, 639–651 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. C. Leung, Z. Lu, N. Esfandiari, R.F. Casper, Y. Sun, Automated sperm immobilization for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. IEEE Trans. Bio-med. Eng. 58, 935–942 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. V.R. Nafisi, M.H. Moradi, M.H. Nasr-esfahani, Sperm identification using elliptic model and tail detection. World Acad. Sci. Eng. Technol. 6, 205–208 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  16. A.M. Groenewald, E. Botha, Preprocessing and tracking algorithms for automatic sperm analysis, in COMSIG 1991 Proceedings: South African Symposium on Communications and Signal Processing (IEEE, New York, 1991), pp. 64–68

    Google Scholar 

  17. L.Z. Shi, J. Nascimento, C. Chandsawangbhuwana, M.W. Berns, E.L. Botvinick, Real-time automated tracking and trapping system for sperm. Microsc. Res. Tech. 69, 894–902 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. S. Oehninger, T. Kruger, The diagnosis of male infertility by semen quality. Clinical significance of sperm morphology assessment. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 10, 1037–1038 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Z.P. Nagy, J. Liu, H. Joris, G. Verheyen, H. Tournaye, M. Camus, M.C. Derde, P. Devroey, A.C. Van Steirteghem, The result of intracytoplasmic sperm injection is not related to any of the three basic sperm parameters. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 10, 1123–1129 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  20. A. Berkovitz, F. Eltes, S. Yaari, N. Katz, I. Barr, A. Fishman, B. Bartoov, The morphological normalcy of the sperm nucleus and pregnancy rate of intracytoplasmic injection with morphologically selected sperm. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 20, 185–190 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  21. B. Bartoov, A. Berkovitz, F. Eltes, A. Kogosowski, Y. Menezo, Y. Barak, Real-time fine morphology of motile human sperm cells is associated with IVF-ICSI outcome. J. Androl. 23, 1–8 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  22. A. Zini, R. Bielecki, D. Phang, M.T. Zenzes, Correlations between two markers of sperm DNA integrity, DNA denaturation and DNA fragmentation, in fertile and infertile men. Fertil. Steril. 75, 674–677 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Benchaib, V. Braun, J. Lornage, S. Hadj, B. Salle, H. Lejeune, J.F. Guérin, Sperm DNA fragmentation decreases the pregnancy rate in an assisted reproductive technique. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 18, 1023–1028 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  24. M. Sergerie, G. Laforest, L. Bujan, F. Bissonnette, G. Bleau, Sperm DNA fragmentation: threshold value in male fertility. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England), 20, 3446–3451 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  25. W. Gorczyca, F. Traganos, H. Jesionowska, Z. Darzynkiewicz, Presence of DNA strand breaks and increased sensitivity of DNA in situ to denaturation in abnormal human sperm cells: analogy to apoptosis of somatic cells. Exp. Cell Res. 207, 202–205 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. C.M. Hughes, S.E. Lewis, V.J. McKelvey-Martin, W. Thompson, A comparison of baseline and induced DNA damage in human spermatozoa from fertile and infertile men, using a modified comet assay. Mol. Hum. Reprod. 2, 613–619 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. M.J. Tomlinson, O. Moffatt, G.C. Manicardi, D. Bizzaro, M. Afnan, D. Sakkas, Interrelationships between seminal parameters and sperm nuclear DNA damage before and after density gradient centrifugation: implications for assisted conception. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 16, 2160–2165 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  28. J.L. Fernández, F. Vázquez-Gundín, A. Delgado, V.J. Goyanes, J. Ramiro-Díaz, J. de la Torre, J. Gosálvez, DNA breakage detection-FISH (DBD-FISH) in human spermatozoa: technical variants evidence different structural features. Mutat. Res. 453, 77–82 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. J.L. Fernández, L. Muriel, M.T. Rivero, V. Goyanes, R. Vazquez, J.G. Alvarez, The sperm chromatin dispersion test: a simple method for the determination of sperm DNA fragmentation. J. Androl. 24, 59–66 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  30. D.P. Evenson, Z. Darzynkiewicz, M.R. Melamed, Relation of mammalian sperm chromatin heterogeneity to fertility. Science (New York, NY) 210, 1131–1133 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  31. D.P. Evenson, R. Wixon, Comparison of the Halosperm test kit with the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) infertility test in relation to patient diagnosis and prognosis. Fertil. Steril. 84, 846–849 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. D. Sakkas, J.G. Alvarez, Sperm DNA fragmentation: mechanisms of origin, impact on reproductive outcome, and analysis. Fertil. Steril. 93, 1027–1036 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. C.G. Petersen, F.C. Massaro, A.L. Mauri, J.B. Oliveira, R.L. Baruffi, J.G. Franco, Efficacy of hyaluronic acid binding assay in selecting motile spermatozoa with normal morphology at high magnification. Reprod. Biol. Endocrinol.: RB&E 8, 149 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  34. G.D. Palermo, P.N. Schlegel, L.T. Colombero, N. Zaninovic, F. Moy, Z. Rosenwaks, Aggressive sperm immobilization prior to intracytoplasmic sperm injection with immature spermatozoa improves fertilization and pregnancy rates. Hum. Reprod. (Oxford, England) 11, 1023–1029 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Y. Sun, S. Duthaler, B.J. Nelson, Autofocusing in computer microscopy: selecting the optimal focus algorithm. Microsc. Res. Tech. 65, 139–149 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. X. Zhang, C. Leung, Z. Lu, N. Esfandiari, R.F. Casper, Y. Sun, Controlled aspiration and positioning of biological cells in a micropipette. IEEE Trans. Bio-med. Eng. 59, 1032–1040 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Sun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Liu, J., Leung, C., Lu, Z., Sun, Y. (2013). Human Sperm Tracking, Analysis, and Manipulation. In: Rakotondrabe, M. (eds) Smart Materials-Based Actuators at the Micro/Nano-Scale. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6684-0_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6684-0_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6683-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6684-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics