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Simple sperm test raises fertility odds
June 29, 1997
Web posted at: 9:53 p.m. EDT (0153 GMT)From Correspondent Rusty Dornin
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- A simple test, based on a basic course of high school biology, may offer new hope for couples coping with infertility.
Previously, when male sperm examined under a microscope didn't move, doctors couldn't determine whether the sperm were dead or alive. So men with non-moving sperm were at a disadvantage when it came to using medical techniques to combat infertility, such as in vitro fertilization, because the procedures were only done with sperm determined to be alive.
But a new low-tech test developed at the University of California at San Francisco can differ between live but non-moving sperm and those that are actually dead. All researchers did was to immerse the sperm in a little sugar water.
"Live sperm swell, like any live cell would, and dead sperm don't," said Dr. Paul Turek. "This is based on high school biology that I learned, called osmosis."
In the laboratory, a swollen sperm is then prodded, which Turek said "can determine whether its alive or not."
"If it's alive, it can be used for pregnancy," he said.
For Michael and Marie Parks, the new technique was the key to success after 10 years of trying to conceive a child. Once live sperm were identified, they were injected into Marie's egg, resulting in a long-sought-after pregnancy -- and an addition to the family, little David Franklin Parks.
This new test could give hope to some 20,000 men in the United States who, up until now, believed they had dead sperm.
"This gives us a whole new way of treating infertile males and a way of helping men become fathers who would not have otherwise been able to," says obstetrics professor Dr. Roger Pedersen.
Related sites:
- Infertility and Fertility Information
- University of Californis at San Francisco
- Atlanta Reproductive Health Centre: Infertility, IVF, Endometriosis Homepage
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