The quality of sperm can be assessed without leaving home

Anna Stavina, XX2 century, based on The Verge: Want to examine your semen? There's a device for that

The new gadget can help men who suffer from fertility disorders. Now sperm can be examined without leaving the house – with the help of a small hardware set-top box to a regular smartphone. Just a few seconds after placing the biomaterial sample in a special cell, the device will evaluate the quality of sperm with 98% accuracy.

The prototype of the new device is already ready. It will be on sale in 2-3 years.

Around the world, about 45 million couples have difficulty conceiving. In about half of the cases, this problem is caused by male infertility. But the study of sperm is associated with certain difficulties – a man needs to come to the clinic, masturbate, and then wait a few days for the results of the analysis. The latter is performed either manually – by a qualified specialist, or automatically – on expensive equipment, so the cost of one study can range from $ 150 to $ 350.

The new device, whose principle of operation is described in an article published in the journal Science Translational Medicine (Kanakasabapathy et al., An automated smartphone-based diagnostic assay for point-of-care semen analysis), makes the sperm testing process less awkward and less expensive. The device consists of a smartphone attachment, a disposable microchip and a special application. All parts are printed on a 3D printer, so the cost of the device is less than $ 5.

There are quite a lot of tests for the study of female fertility at home today. Men are offered a number of products (for example, SpermCheck, FertilMARQ and Trak) that can only estimate the number of sperm in the seminal fluid. But for fertilization, not only the number of male germ cells secreted with the ejaculate is important, but also their ability to move. And these tests, unlike the new device, do not determine the so–called "sperm motility".

To perform an analysis using this device, you need to insert a smartphone into a special "crib" – this will turn its camera into a microscope. Then the disposable microchip should be immersed in semen, pulled out and placed in the same "crib". The application will evaluate the video captured by the smartphone camera in a few seconds and give the result.

The researchers tested the device on 350 sperm samples, and found that the accuracy of its operation is 98%. More than half of the samples were correctly analyzed by 10 volunteers without special training – this was done to make sure that the new gadget is really easy to handle.

This year, a similar device called YO Home Sperm Test has already been released to the American market. However, it evaluates the quality of sperm according to its own standards – while the new device is calibrated according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

The price of the device for the end user, according to the developers' forecasts, will be about $ 50. It is expected to go on sale in the next 2-3 years. Technology should make male fertility research more accessible. Many men are afraid of the diagnosis of "infertility" and therefore do not turn to doctors. The ability to test your sperm on your own is able to solve this problem.

The device can also be useful for men who have undergone a vasectomy. After sterilization, it should usually take about two months before the spermatozoa disappear from the sperm. Therefore, patients who have undergone this procedure are usually recommended to take tests before having unprotected sex. With the new device, men will be able to verify their own sterility on their own.

The potential of the new technology, according to its developers, is not limited to the assessment of male fertility. Currently, one of the creators of the device, Hadi Shafi, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, is developing a similar device designed to analyze saliva and blood for infectious diseases. The device will, for example, count the number of white blood cells destroyed by HIV, which will simplify the diagnosis of the disease. These developments may be especially in demand in developing countries, where access to doctors and laboratory equipment is difficult.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  23.03.2017