Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen
When ejaculated sperm travels through the vagina to the uterus, mucus secreted by the cervical canal generally filters out sperm having low motility and poor morphology. To investigate this selection principle in vivo, we developed a microfluidic sperm-sorting chip with a viscous medium (polyvinylpy...
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Biomedicines |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/10/1439 |
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| author | Manhee Lee Jin Woo Park Dongwon Kim Hyojeong Kwon Min Jeong Cho Eun Ji Lee Tai Eun Shin Dae Keun Kim Seungki Lee Do Gyeung Byeun Jung Jae Ko Jae Ho Lee Jung Kyu Choi |
| author_facet | Manhee Lee Jin Woo Park Dongwon Kim Hyojeong Kwon Min Jeong Cho Eun Ji Lee Tai Eun Shin Dae Keun Kim Seungki Lee Do Gyeung Byeun Jung Jae Ko Jae Ho Lee Jung Kyu Choi |
| author_sort | Manhee Lee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | When ejaculated sperm travels through the vagina to the uterus, mucus secreted by the cervical canal generally filters out sperm having low motility and poor morphology. To investigate this selection principle in vivo, we developed a microfluidic sperm-sorting chip with a viscous medium (polyvinylpyrrolidone: PVP) to imitate the biophysical environment mimic system of the human cervical canal. The material property of the PVP solution was tuned to the range of viscosities of cervical mucus using micro-viscometry. The selection of high-quality human sperm was experimentally evaluated in vitro and theoretically analyzed by the convection-diffusion mechanism. The convection flow is shown to be dominant at low viscosity of the medium used in the sperm-sorting chip when seeded with raw semen; hence, the raw semen containing sperm and debris convectively flow together with suppressed relative dispersions. Also, it was observed that the sperm selected via the chip not only had high motilities but also normal morphologies and high DNA integrity. Therefore, the biomimetic sperm-sorting chip with PVP medium is expected to improve male fertility by enabling the selection of high-quality sperm as well as uncovering pathways and regulatory mechanisms involved in sperm transport through the female reproductive tract for egg fertilization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:42:55Z |
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| id | doaj.art-f5f81e9248f045e4a4d8823f24b89439 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9059 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:42:55Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
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| series | Biomedicines |
| spelling | doaj.art-f5f81e9248f045e4a4d8823f24b894392023-11-22T17:31:55ZengMDPI AGBiomedicines2227-90592021-10-01910143910.3390/biomedicines9101439Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human SemenManhee Lee0Jin Woo Park1Dongwon Kim2Hyojeong Kwon3Min Jeong Cho4Eun Ji Lee5Tai Eun Shin6Dae Keun Kim7Seungki Lee8Do Gyeung Byeun9Jung Jae Ko10Jae Ho Lee11Jung Kyu Choi12Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, KoreaDepartment of Andrology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaDepartment of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Chungbuk, KoreaDepartment of Andrology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaDepartment of Biomedical Science, College of Life Science, CHA University, Pochen 11160, KoreaDepartment of Andrology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaDepartment of Andrology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaDepartment of Urology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, CHA University School of Medicine, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaBiological and Genetic Resources Assessment Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon 22689, KoreaDepartment of Biotechnology, College of Life and Applied Sciences, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, KoreaDepartment of Biomedical Science, College of Life Science, CHA University, Pochen 11160, KoreaDepartment of Andrology, CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station, Jung-gu, Seoul 04637, KoreaDepartment of Biotechnology, College of Life and Applied Sciences, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, KoreaWhen ejaculated sperm travels through the vagina to the uterus, mucus secreted by the cervical canal generally filters out sperm having low motility and poor morphology. To investigate this selection principle in vivo, we developed a microfluidic sperm-sorting chip with a viscous medium (polyvinylpyrrolidone: PVP) to imitate the biophysical environment mimic system of the human cervical canal. The material property of the PVP solution was tuned to the range of viscosities of cervical mucus using micro-viscometry. The selection of high-quality human sperm was experimentally evaluated in vitro and theoretically analyzed by the convection-diffusion mechanism. The convection flow is shown to be dominant at low viscosity of the medium used in the sperm-sorting chip when seeded with raw semen; hence, the raw semen containing sperm and debris convectively flow together with suppressed relative dispersions. Also, it was observed that the sperm selected via the chip not only had high motilities but also normal morphologies and high DNA integrity. Therefore, the biomimetic sperm-sorting chip with PVP medium is expected to improve male fertility by enabling the selection of high-quality sperm as well as uncovering pathways and regulatory mechanisms involved in sperm transport through the female reproductive tract for egg fertilization.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/10/1439human spermpolyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)cervical mucussperm-sorting chipmotilitysperm-head vacuole |
| spellingShingle | Manhee Lee Jin Woo Park Dongwon Kim Hyojeong Kwon Min Jeong Cho Eun Ji Lee Tai Eun Shin Dae Keun Kim Seungki Lee Do Gyeung Byeun Jung Jae Ko Jae Ho Lee Jung Kyu Choi Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen Biomedicines human sperm polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) cervical mucus sperm-sorting chip motility sperm-head vacuole |
| title | Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen |
| title_full | Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen |
| title_fullStr | Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen |
| title_full_unstemmed | Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen |
| title_short | Viscous Cervical Environment-on-a-Chip for Selecting High-Quality Sperm from Human Semen |
| title_sort | viscous cervical environment on a chip for selecting high quality sperm from human semen |
| topic | human sperm polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) cervical mucus sperm-sorting chip motility sperm-head vacuole |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/10/1439 |
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