A MONO-PERCOLL SEPARATION TECHNIQUE IMPROVES SPERM RECOVERY OF NORMALAND MALE FACTOR SPECIMENS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SWIM-UP TECHNIQUE

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a simplified 80% Mono-Percoll sperm separation procedure on both normal and male f actor semen samples compared with the standard swim-up technique. The parameters examined include sperm concentration, motility and morpholo gy, total motile functional spermatozoa and percentage recovery, Norma l patients demonstrated enhanced sperm parameters with the Mono-Percol l compared with the swim-up technique for concentration (67X10(6) vers us 42X10(6)/ml, P < 0.001), motility (66 versus 59%, P < 0.001), morph ology (56 versus 49%, P < 0.005) and percentage recovery (60 versus 42 %, P < 0.005). Male factor patients showed enhanced sperm parameters w ith the Mono-Percoll procedure compared with the swim-up technique for motility (53 versus 42%, P < 0.05) and percentage recovery (54 versus 29%, P < 0.005), with no significant difference in concentration and morphology, In summary, the Mono-Percoll sperm recovery procedure is s ignificantly better than the swim-up technique for male factor patient s and patients with normal sperm parameters.