Beyond IUI, IVF and ICSI - New developments in - eshre 2013

Selecting spermatozoa; potential roles for
electrophoresis and pharmacological enhancement
Laureate Professor R. John Aitken FRSE FAA
Priority Research Centre in Reproductive Science
Hunter Medical Research Institute
and University of Newcastle
Conflict of interest
RJA is associated with a commercial company, NuSep, which is involved in the
commercialization of electrophoretic methods for the preparation of human spermatozoa
Selecting spermatozoa; potential roles for
electrophoresis and pharmacological enhancement
Learning objectives
As a result of this lecture attendees should appreciate that:
• Male infertility is a major cause of human infertility.
• The male factor involves not just a compromised ability to fertilize oocyte but
also an impaired capacity to support normal embryonic development.
• Sperm preparation procedures should not only be rapid and efficient but should
also select for cells exhibiting high levels of functionality and low levels of DNA
damage. They should also eliminate leukocyte contamination.
• Several methods for sperm isolation exist including swim-up, discontinuous
gradient density centrifugation and electrophoresis.
• Methods for pharmacologically enhancing the spermatozoa depend on a
knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for defective sperm function.
• Oxidative stress is a major factor in the aetiology of defective sperm function and
antioxidants have some potential in the preservation of these cells.
Clinical Problem
Cyclees
started
Contribution of ART to Australasian population
60000 •Fertility in Australia is low, one in
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
Year
4 woman remaining childless at the
end of their reproductive lives.
•One in 20 men are infertile
•One in every 30 babies produced
by ART
•70,541 ART treatment cycles
reported in Australia and New
Zealand in 2009, a 13.9% increase
on 2008 and a 48.0% increase on
2005
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