DEVELOPMENT OF A KIT TO ISOLATE VIABLE SPERMATOZOA

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF INFERTILE WOMEN IS A RELATIVELY SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT PROCEDURE. PRESENTLY AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE SPERM QUALITY PRIOR TO INSEMINATION, NAMELY "SWIM-UP" AND "SWIM-DOWN" PROCEDURES, ARE OFTEN NOT SATISFACTORY SINCE THEY YIELD POOR SPERM RECOVERY. BY CONTRAST, FILTRATION THROUGH A GLASS WOOL COLUMN YIELDS A MUCH HIGHER SPERM RECOVERY. IF THE VIABILITY OF THESE SPERMIS ALSO IDENTICAL OR BETTER THAN THAT OBTAINED BY OTHER TECHNIQUES, THEN, FILTRATION WOULD BE THE PREFERRED PROCEDURE. TO EVALUATE THIS, THE RECOVERY AND QUALITY OF THE SPERM OBTAINED BY THESE THREE PROCEDURES WILL BE COMPARED USING VARIOUS PARAMETERS TO ASSESS SPERM QUALITY. THE EFFECT OF DEAD OR POOR QUALITY SPERM ON THE RECOVERY OF VIABLE SPERMATOZOA WILL ALSO BE ASSESSED. IN ADDITION, THE GREATER ABILITY OF FILTERED SPERM TO PENETRATE DENUDED HAMSTER OOCYTES WILL BE TESTED. FILTERED SPERMATOZOA WILL BE EITHER DILUTED, OR KILLED SPERM ADDED, TO DETERMINE ITS EFFECT ON THE ABILITY TO PENETRATE DENUDED HAMSTER OOCYTES. IF THE FILTRATION TECHNIQUE YIELDS A MUCH HIGHER NUMBER OF VIABLE SPERMATOZOA THAN THE OTHER PROCEDURES, A KIT CONSISTING OF A GLASS WOOL FILTER CAN BE MADE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FOR CLINICAL USE TO IMPROVE THE SPERM QUALITY PRIOR TO INSEMINATION.