Sperm characteristics are routinely assessed in fertility clinics as decisive factors to select sperm for improved intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes. A recent study suggests that, in patients with non-obstructive azoospermia, no specific defect or combination of abnormalities in testicular sperm precluded chance of pregnancy, while also suggesting sperm motility and acrosome defects are the proxies relevant to ICSI outcomes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Corona, G. et al. Sperm recovery and ICSI outcomes in men with non-obstructive azoospermia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Hum. Reprod. Update 25, 733–757 (2019).
Agarwal, A. et al. Male infertility. Lancet 397, 319–333 (2021).
Vasilescu, S. A. et al. A microfluidic approach to rapid sperm recovery from heterogeneous cell suspensions. Sci. Rep. 11, 7917 (2021).
Aboukhshaba, A. et al. Testicular sperm characteristics in men with nonobstructive azoospermia and their impact on intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcome. Fertil. Steril. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2021.09.024 (2021).
Zheng, J. et al. Decreased sperm motility retarded ICSI fertilization rate in severe oligozoospermia but good-quality embryo transfer had achieved the prospective clinical outcomes. PLoS ONE 11, e0163524 (2016).
Marzano, G. et al. Sperm selection in assisted reproduction: a review of established methods and cutting-edge possibilities. Biotechnol. Adv. 40, 107498 (2020).
Dai, C. et al. Advances in sperm analysis: techniques, discoveries and applications. Nat. Rev. Urol. 18, 447–467 (2021).
You, J. B. et al. Machine learning for sperm selection. Nat. Rev. Urol. 18, 387–403 (2021).
Esteves, S. C., Roque, M., Bradley, C. K. & Garrido, N. Reproductive outcomes of testicular versus ejaculated sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection among men with high levels of DNA fragmentation in semen: systematic review and meta-analysis. Fertil. Steril. 108, 456–467 (2017).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nosrati, R., Sinton, D. How to select ICSI-viable sperm from the most challenging samples. Nat Rev Urol 19, 135–136 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00546-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00546-1