Hi-tech energy pulse offers male fertility breakthrough

SCIENTISTS have brought new hope to fertility patients by finding out how to identify an individual’s best sperm without destroying it in the process.

Fertility experts hailed the breakthrough as a “world first”.

Currently, the most advanced methods used to explore male fertility usually destroy the sperm.

But the new method, developed by the University of Sheffield, uses low energy pulses, currently used in cancer diagnostics, which do not do such damage. It means that when the best sperm is identified, it can be used immediately in IVF treatment, instead of simply providing clues for future help.

Prof Martyn Paley, from the University’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, said: “The technique of magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been previously used to examine the molecular composition of many cells and tissues in other diseases such as cancer, but it has never previously been used to examine live sperm. As such, these results are a world first.”

Scientists examined fresh sperm samples from healthy volunteers and patients for just over an hour. They were able to build up a profile of the molecules present in the sperm and how they differed between samples.

Prof Allan Pacey, a fertility expert from the University of Sheffield who was part of the team, said: “Most of the advanced techniques we have available to examine the molecules in sperm end up destroying them in the process.

“To potentially have a technique which can examine the molecular structure of sperm without damaging them is really exciting.”

The breakthrough could also help develop new ways to treat men with substandard sperm.