Using control microfluidic system to enhance the sperm motility sorting efficiency

摘要

A microfluidic device was designed with two parallel laminar-stream-based surface-modified microchannels to separate motile sperm. This modified sperm sorter provided a new selection that had advances in resolving traditional sorting problems. Microscopic examination showed that sperms with different motility and the results of fluorescence images indicated that the laminar streams are the same as the CFDRC simulation result which revealed distribution of flow field. For the purpose of confirming the real sorting situation, the proportions of living and dead sperm after sorting were readily identified and quantified through use of flow cytometric analysis. Moreover, we present a control microfluidic system to change the flow rate. The controlmicrofluidic system is consists of syringe pump and connective tube module. Decreasing the velocity of flow field provide more opportunities of sorting sperm. The result showed that the sperm collected via our device have higher activity on average. As a result, we can enhance the sorting efficiency in the quality and quantity of sperm. With this approach, the characteristics of laminar flow and a control microfluidic system were utilized to demonstrate the microfluidic system with high efficiency for sperm motility sorting.