Scientists from Ruhr-Universität Bochum have used Raman micro-spectroscopy to distinguish, within seconds, healthy fertile and infertile sperm cells. The method has the potential for a novel fertility technology and a test scheme which does not only rely on morphological characteristics, but also utilises chemical signatures.

The research team has shown that cellular damage on a molecular level in mitochondria of sperm cells can be present although changes in form and morphology are not visible. This stresses that besides morphology, which is a strict criterion by the WHO Manual for Andrology Laboratories to classify human sperm fertility, it is now possible and necessary to improve the test criteria by incorporating chemical signatures.

The RUB researchers obtained detailed 3D chemical maps, and different organelles within human sperm are visualised by their chemically unique Raman spectra. In addition to optical and morphological images, it is now possible to directly image the chemical constituents of individual human sperm cells.

This discovery may contribute to the development of new standards for the classification of healthy fertile and damaged infertile human sperm cells. Since the sperm count of human males around the world has dropped to 50% of what it was more than 50 years ago, there is an urgency to investigate human fertility organelles.

The development of innovative spectroscopic and microscopic methods for high resolution imaging of living cells is one of the research areas at the Chair of Physical Chemistry II (Professor Dr Martina Havenith-Newen). The work of Konrad Meister, Diedrich A. Schmidt and Erik Bründermann uses confocal Raman microscopy for detailed 3D imaging and identification of organelles of human sperm cells to reveal the origin of infertility on the molecular level. The funding for the Raman microscope used in this study was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 05KS7PC2). The work is reported in the Analyst (doi: 10.1039/b927012d).

For other work on this subject, see this previous news item.

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