Sperm quality test could shine light on infertility
Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos When it comes to getting a sperm check, what matters isn’t just volume but also quality. And you can do that in your living room. Infertility health expert Chinwe Nzimako says for men planning to have a child, a sperm quality test can help them detect early enough their chances of infertility […]
Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos
When it comes to getting a sperm check, what matters isn’t just volume but also quality. And you can do that in your living room.
Infertility health expert Chinwe Nzimako says for men planning to have a child, a sperm quality test can help them detect early enough their chances of infertility or not.
Nzimako is a major promoter of SwimCount test, a do-it-yourself-at-home kit for sperm test.
“Until now, the male fertility tests only took into account the quantity of sperm and not the quality, although other factors, such as Progressive Motility—their ability to move forward in a straight line—are more important for fertilization, for which only a single sperm of optimal quality is necessary.
“In other words, a Progressive Motile Sperm Cell is the only sperm cell that can fertilize the egg.
Regular condoms may contain a film of spermicide, but the SwimCount requires a special non-spermicidal condom to collect the sperm after sexual intercourse.
The technology is based on swim-up technology to measure the number of progressive motile sperm cells.
“After depositing a small amount of liquefied semen sample into the device and the semen compartment, the semen cells that are able to move progressively and swim up into the Swim Up compartment are then stained blue and drawn into the Result Window.
In this way, the darker the colour, the more PMSCs are present in the sample, which is seen after 30 minutes.”
“According to World Health Organisation (WHO) report in 2010, the threshold of male fertility by SwimCount is set at a count of more than 5 million PMSCs per mL. A lower number than 5 million PMSCs/mLimplies greater difficulties to obtain a natural pregnancy within a period of one year, so it is advisable to consult a reproductive specialist,” Nzimako said.