Autostage sperm tracing system for semen evaluation.

To overcome the limitation of the microscope field, the study proposed an autostage sperm tracing system (ASTS), which could trace a particular sperm for a long time and distance. The ASTS was constructed by assembling a commercial microscope, an image frame grabber, a personal computer, and a motorized stage. Its performance was tested by evaluating 6 semen samples and by comparing the evaluation with those of other semen evaluations. The ASTS broke 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 (Vcl), straight-line velocity (Vsl), and linearity (L(in)). The sperm quality was then evaluated in real time, and the user could decide to capture or abandon a particular sperm in the IVF The ASTS enables users to evaluate sperm progression for a long time and to have the global quality of a particular sperm in real time. Its open structure has the flexibility for micromanipulating a semen sample, and has the potential application associated with a modern IVF technique.