SPERM SELECTION BY PD-10 SEPHADEX COLUMNS - COMPARISON WITH SPERMPREPFILTRATION AND PERCOLL CENTRIFUGATION

The efficacy of a disposable, prepacked column (PD-10) containing Seph adex G-25, to select motile spermatozoa, was compared with another col umn for sperm filtration (Sperm-Prep) and centrifugation through Perco ll gradients. Aliquots of washed sperm suspensions were processed by t he three techniques. The number of motile cells and the proportion of total spermatozoa selected was similar for all methods. Recovery of sp ermatozoa showing optimal movement was 145.9 +/- 30% (mean +/- SEM) wi th PD-10 columns and 131.9 +/- 32% with Percoll, both significantly hi gher than SpermPrep (71.9 +/- 11%; P < 0.05). The straight line veloci ty of motile cells was lower in samples processed by SpermPrep (29.3 /- 2 mum/s) compared to both PD-10 (34.7 +/- 1 mum/s) and Percoll (34. 9 +/- 2 mum/s; P = 0.07). When whole semen was processed, total sperm recovery with PD-10 was 61.7 +/- 8% versus 47.7 +/- 7% with Percoll (P < 0.001). Percoll centrifugation improved the percentage of morpholog ically normal spermatozoa more than PD-10. Similar proportions of moti le spermatozoa and cells with optimal motility were obtained by both m ethods. We conclude that PD-10 filtration columns can be used to prepa re semen in the laboratory as a practical alternative to other methods .