Vitality test

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The sperm vitality test is a test performed during the semen analysis in which the percentage of live and dead sperm from a semen sample is calculated. Although mobility indicates vitality, not all immobile sperm are dead. The vitality index is not measured in all spermiograms; only in those cases in which there is more than 40% of immobile sperm.

Below you have an index with all the points that we will discuss in this article.

Index

Vitality test: live or dead motionless sperm

When a sperm does not move, we can not know if the absence of mobility is caused by a failure in its ciliary machinery, which allows it to move, or because it is dead. That is why, when the percentage of immobile sperm is high, it is required to determine the percentage of them that is alive.

Live sperm that do not move will have difficulty reaching the egg and achieving natural pregnancy . However, they can be used in a process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) made thanks to the technique of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

Determination of live and dead sperm

The most used vitality test is the eosin test, also known as the Williams Pollack test.

To carry out this test and determine the percentage of sperm that are alive, an eosin stain is performed.

Sperm staining for the vitality test

The dead sperm have perforations and holes in their membranes, so they are permeable to the eosin dye and therefore will appear colored after the vitality test. In contrast, live sperm will not be stained because they have the membrane intact and this prevents the entry of eosin stain.

Another test of vitality that is used, although to a lesser extent, is the hypoosmotic test. It consists of determining the integrity of the spermatic membrane of the tail of the sperm.

For its realization, the spermatozoa are diluted with a hypoosmotic solution. Thus, in live sperm, the solution will enter through the tail and therefore the sperm will swell.

With this test, as with the eosin test, we can differentiate the dead sperm from those that are alive and immobile.

You can also use a fluorescent stain, whose operation would be similar to the eosin test, that is, the dead sperm would stain by altering their membranes.

Results: sperm vitality index

After staining, the preparation is observed under a microscope and 100 spermatozoa are counted. Write down how many of them are dyed and how many have repulsed the dye. In this way we calculate the percentage of live and dead sperm.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that from 58% of live sperm is considered that the seminal sample is normal, while if the vitality index is lower, it is considered that there are many sperm dead and therefore alteration of seminal quality.

Stationary sperms alive or dead?

It is important to keep in mind that, in order to perform an ICSI, a very low number of live sperm is necessary since only one sperm is used per oocyte. Because of this, although a vitality value lower than 58% is considered an abnormality, we could perform the ICSI, as long as the values ??are not excessively low.

Keep in mind that a high amount of dead sperm in a sample may be indicative of some other condition, so that the remaining sperm, although alive and able to fertilize, may show another alteration that prevents pregnancy reaches finished.

Necrospermia is the disease that is characterized by having more than 80% of dead sperm.

Frequent questions

How long do live sperm last in a woman's body?

After vaginal ejaculation, sperm can survive in the woman's body for a maximum of 4-5 days. The conditions in the woman are similar to those of the man and therefore the sperm can survive.

How long do live sperm last in the condom or in the hand?

The external conditions are not favorable to the requirements of sperm and therefore, if the ejaculation is external, the sperm die within a few hours. For this reason, it is so important to try to maintain the temperature and light conditions during the collection of the seminal sample for a semen analysis or an assisted reproduction treatment.

What is the price of the semen vitality test?

As we have already mentioned, the vitality test is not carried out routinely in a semengram. However, if the seminogram shows an altered mobility result, the test will be included in the spermiogram tests, usually at no additional cost.


fertility test in Pontevedra(Spain)

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