A new technique, developed in Australia, separates healthy sperm from those most likely to have DNA damage. In around 40% of infertile couples it is the male who is the cause of the infertility, so this technique stands to improve success rates in infertility treatments. The technique works on the principle that sperm with the most negatively charged membranes are likely to have the least DNA damage. A machine is then able to filter out sperm linked both to infertility and a hightened risk of childhood cancers.
At the present time many infertility treatment centers use a centrifuge. The centrifuge increases the concentration of dense sperm but cannot identify damaged sperm. The centrifuge technique also subjects the sperm to a certain ammount of stress. It is also very time consuming, taking about 45 minutes in total. It is hoped that the new technique, developed by John Aitken and Chris Ainsworth at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, alongside commercial partner Life Therapeutics of Sydney, will live up to the expectations.
It is hoped that the sperm-sorter will help many infertile couples, but especially those older would-be fathers, men who smoke heavily, or those who have been exposed to pollution in the workplace - all factors that increase this type of DNA damage.
The device, smaller than a shoe box, is made up of two chambers seperated by a polycarbonate filter doted with tiny holes. The holes allow only normal shaped sperm to pass through and sperm that are negatively charged by a voltage applied to the filter to the second chamber.The machine has been named the Gradiflow.