A novel sperm swimming up trapper method enhances sperm quality and assisted reproductive technology outcomes by avoiding centrifugation-induced damage in a murine model†.

Abstract

Infertility affects approximately 15% of reproductive-age couples, with assisted reproductive technology (ART) serving as the primary therapeutic modality. The efficacy of sperm selection is critical for generating high-quality embryos; enriching for high-quality spermatozoa while minimizing iatrogenic damage markedly improves pregnancy outcomes. Conventional sperm preparation techniques, such as density gradient centrifugation (DGC), invariably involve centrifugation, which heightens the risk of sperm damage and may impair subsequent embryonic development. Here, we compared the efficacy and safety of a novel sperm swimming up trapper (SST) method with DGC for sperm isolation in a murine ART model. The procedure of SST approach is convenient, rapid, and obviates centrifugation, thereby mitigating sperm injury. Sperm recovered via SST displayed superior motility, morphology, DNA integrity, and fertilizing capacity relative to DGC-processed counterparts. Moreover, SST-isolated sperm exerted minimal deleterious effects on early embryo development and blastocyst quality, with no discernible impact on post embryo transfer offspring development. Collectively, these data establish SST as a safer, more effective, and streamlined sperm separation technique, providing foundational reference data for clinical sperm selection.