ABOUT 7 MILLION COUPLES IN AMERICA HAVE FERTILITY PROBLEMS, 40 TO 50 PERCENT OF WHICH ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE MALE.

ABOUT 7 MILLION COUPLES IN AMERICA HAVE FERTILITY PROBLEMS, 40 TO 50 PERCENT OF WHICH ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE MALE. CURRENT METHODS OF DIAGNOSING MALE INFERTILITY BY MICRO- SCOPIC EXAMINATION OF THE SEMEN SPECIMEN ARE INADEQUATE, AND MORE RELIABLE TESTS NEED TO BE DEVELOPED. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO DEVELOP SUCH A TEST BY USING A SILICA WOOL FILTRATION TECHNIQUE. THE METHOD IS BASED ON THE OBSERVATION THAT SILICA (GLASS) WOOL FIBERS FILTER OUT NON- MOTILE SPERMATOZOA WITH CHEMICALLY INACTIVE OF PHYSICALLY DAMAGED MEMBRANES. THUS, WITH A SIMPLE ONE-STEP METHOD, ONECAN DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF VIABLE SPERMATOZOA IN A SEMEN SAMPLE WITHOUT HAVING TO PERFORM ANALYSES FOR SPERM MOTILITY, THE EOSIN Y STAIN, OR THE HYPOOSMOTIC SWELLING TEST. THE NUMBER OF VIABLE SPREMATOZOA IN AN EJACULATE SHOULD BE A GOOD INDICATION OF THE POTENTIAL FERTILIZING CAPACITY OF THE SEMEN. DUE TO ITS SIMPLICITY, THE FILTRA- TION TEST CAN READILY BE USED IN PRIVATE PRACTICE OR UNDER OTHER CONDITIONS WHERE TRAINED TECHNICIANS ARE NOT AVAILABLE. PHASE I OF THE PROJECT IS AIMED AT ESTABLISHING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE TECHNIQUE AND EVALUATING WHETHER IT WILL YIELD CONSISTENT, RELIABLE, AND REPRODUCIBLE RESULTS. ALSO, THE CORRELATION OF THIS TEST WITH THE ZONA-FREE HAMSTER OOCYTE PENETRATING ABILITY WILL BE COMPARED TO THAT OF THE MORE STANDARD PARAMETERS. SUCCESS WITH PHASE I WILL LEAD TO PHASE II STUDIES DURING WHICH THE IN VIVO (CLINICAL)APPLICATION AND RELIABILITY OF THE TEST WILL BE ASSESSED AS A PREDICTOR OF INFERTILITY AND FERTILITY.