Autostage sperm tracing system for semen evaluation

To overcome the limitation of the microscope field, the study proposed an a utostage sperm tracing system (ASTS), which could trace a particular sperm for a long time and distance. The ASTS was constructed by assembling a comm ercial microscope, an image frame grabber, a personal computer, and a motor ized stage. Its performance was tested by evaluating 6 semen samples and by comparing the evaluation with those of other semen evaluations. The ASTS b roke through the limitation of the microscope field and traced a particular sperm as long as possible. It analyzed the sperm track and calculated the motility parameters, such as curvilinear velocity (V-cl), Straight-line vel ocity (V-sl) and linearity (L-in). The sperm quality was then evaluated in real time, and the user could decide to capture or abandon a particular spe rm in the IVF. The ASTS enables users to evaluate sperm progression for a l ong time and to have the global quality of a particular sperm in real rime. Its open structure has the flexibility for micromanipulating a semen sampl e, and has the potential application associated with a modern IVF technique .