Loes Segerink, a researcher at the University of Twente has developed a 'fertility chip' that can measure the amount of sperm and their movements accurately. This chip can be incorporated into a device for one-time use.
As reported by ScienceDaily.com, Tuesday (1/3/2012), this test device will allow the men to test themselves at home sperm thereby expanding the opportunity to obtain a correct diagnosis with a simple and inexpensive method.
Standard fertility states that each milliliter of ejaculate should contain at least 20 million sperm. The second important aspect of fertility sperm motility. Thus, the chip is made Segerink measure both.
Simple sperm test kits are already commercially available to determine whether the sperm concentration is above or below the standard. Unfortunately, these tests are too limited because it does not give accurate readings of the concentration.
In chips made Segerink, sperm flowing through channels containing fluid under the electrodes. When the sperm cells flowing in one electrode, there was a brief increase in electrical resistance. These increases are calculated to measure the number of cells which contained sperm.
To test the reliability of the measurement of concentration, Segerink adding microspheres (small ball) in the liquid. This tool was able to distinguish the sperm with the microspheres. In addition, the system is considered to be relied upon to differentiate the white blood cells from other body cells. The number of white blood cells provide important additional information for the gynecologist in addition to the number of sperm cells.
Finally, the movement of sperm is an important measure of the quality of sperm. Slight adjustments in the chip can sort sperm from the sperm that are not agile agile. After that, both can be calculated separately. By measuring the movement of sperm in this way, the chip offers a test that is really complete.
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