Gm. Centola, COMPARISON OF MANUAL MICROSCOPIC AND COMPUTER-ASSISTED METHODS FOR ANALYSIS OF SPERM COUNT AND MOTILITY, Archives of andrology, 36(1), 1996, pp. 1-7
This investigation was conducted to determine which of three methods,
manual analysis, and two different commercially available computer-ass
isted semen analyzers (CASA), was the most reproducible. Semen samples
from donors participating in an artificial insemination program (n =
1) and from patients being seen for andrology procedures (n = 12) were
acquired at 0.5 h after ejaculation. Each specimen was loaded into on
e chamber of a 20-mu m microcell slide (Conception Technologies, San D
iego, CA, USA) and the port was sealed with petroleum jelly to prevent
drying of the specimen. The specimens were assessed for sperm count (
SC) and motility (MOT) first by manual analysis using an eyepiece reti
cle and brightfield light microscopy at 400x total magnification, seco
nd using the Hamilton-Thorn 2030 analyzer (Hamilton-Thom Research, Dan
vers, MA, USA), and third, using the Cell Trak/S system (CTS; Motion A
nalysis Corporation, Santa Rosa, CA, USA). Each analysis was repeated
five times for each specimen on the same microcell by the same technic
ian. The three methods were compared in terms of means and standard de
viations of the SC and MOT over repeated measures of a specimen using
sign tests. The CTS system measured significantly lower sperm counts t
han the HTM system. MAN was intermediate and not significantly differe
nt from either. For MOT, there were no significant differences. Compar
ison of the standard deviations demonstrated that the three methods we
re not equally reproducible. For SC, the manual method was significant
ly less reproducible than the HTM system; the CTS system was intermedi
ate. For MOT, the manual method was less reproducible than either CASA
system, both of which were not significantly different from each othe
r. CASA methodology in general provides a more reproducible (less vari
able) analysis than the manual microscopic method for assessing sperm
count and motility.