Biomimetic Microchip for Sperm Capacitation and Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current assisted reproductive technologies face challenges in efficiently selecting good-quality capacitated motile sperms from semen and ensuring their integrity for successful in vitro fertilization, leading to low birth rates due to high contamination rates of abnormal sperms and DNA damage during long-term in vitro exposure.
Innovation Solution
A microchip mimicking female reproductive organs, comprising a first chamber, a second chamber, and a connecting channel, is used to select and incubate sperms, optimizing the channel's dimensions to enhance sperm movement and capacitation, thereby improving the selection and fertilization efficiency of capacitated motile sperms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional in vitro sperm processing techniques are used, then sperm selection can be performed, but long-term in vitro exposure causes increased damage to sperm DNA
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a microchip that copies the structure and function of the female reproductive tract (uterus and fallopian tube), replicating the natural environment for sperm capacitation and selection. This biomimetic approach allows sperm to undergo capacitation in a physiologically relevant environment, reducing the harmful effects of conventional in vitro processing while maintaining selection quality
2Productivity
If conventional sperm processing is used, then motile sperms can be selected, but contamination with abnormal sperms remains high
Solution Approach 1:
The microchip incorporates spatially differentiated regions with distinct functional properties: a uterus region for initial sperm capacitation and a fallopian tube region with specific microstructures that selectively guide and filter capacitated sperm. This local differentiation creates zones of varying selectivity, enabling efficient separation of abnormal sperm while maintaining high overall selection efficiency
3Productivity
If conventional in vitro fertilization is performed, then embryos can be produced, but the process is highly dependent on practitioner ability and system superiority
Solution Approach 1:
The microchip enables sperm to self-capacitate and self-select through passive interaction with the biomimetic structures. The fallopian tube region's microstructures naturally guide capacitated sperm toward the oocyte injection site without requiring active manipulation, reducing dependence on practitioner skill and simplifying the overall system
Data Source
AI summary
A microchip includes a first chamber and second chamber formed to a predetermined depth in a member made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS); and a channel (microchannel) connecting the first chamber to the second chamber. These components mimic in vivo organs which produce by selecting capacitated motile sperm from semen and causing the selected sperm to meet mature oocyte, and these components are capable of effectively producing motile capacitated good-quality sperms from sperms ejaculated outside the body.