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Upstream or swim up processing technique: which one is more effective to select human sperm with high chromatin integrity
Heidari, Mahnaz; Lakpour, Niknam; Darbandi, Mahsa; Darbani, Sara; Shani, Saeideh; Goharbakhsh, Leila; Cheshmi, Ghazaleh; Akhondi, Mohammad Mehdi & Sadeghi, Mohammad Reza
Abstract
Background: Sperm processing methods separate motile sperms with good
morphology from dead and abnormal forms of sperms, immature germ cells, and
non-sperm cells.
Objective: The propose of this study was to compare the efficacy of upstream and
swim-up processing techniques to separate sperms with the high quality especially
in relation to sperm chromatin integrity.
Materials and Methods: This experimental study used semen samples from 60
normozoospermic men. Specimens were divided into equal aliquots for processing
by swim up (group A), and upstream (group B) methods and compare with control
by raw semen (group C). Sperm concentration, morphology, motility, DNA
fragmentation and chromatin maturation were measured in these three groups.
Results: The results revealed that sperm concentration in the swim up samples was
significantly greater than upstream samples (p≤0.04). as addition, motile sperm
recovery including the percentage of progressive motility and a total number of
motile sperm was better in the swim-up compared to an upstream method and raw
semen (p≤0.001). The cell debris and seminal fluid were equally removed by both
methods and the percentage of normal forms was also similar in both procedures
(p≥0.4). In addition, sperm DNA fragmentation and chromatin maturation were not
significantly different between the three groups (p≥0.1).
Conclusion: According to results, apparently the upstream method had no
significant efficiency to separate good quality sperms compare to swim up.
Therefore, swim up seems to be a simple, inexpensive, reliable and widely available
method with an efficient yield to separate motile sperm with good morphology and
better chromatin integrity for insemination in the infertility clinics.
Keywords
Chromatin maturation; DNA fragmentation; Sperm; Swim up; Upstream technique.
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