How Do They Count Sperm?

[inkleberry]

How do they count sperm in fertility samples? Is there some guy out there who sits around all day and counts, or do they scan it with a machine somehow?

[Khan]

There’s a procedure from a lab I did in college that involved counting extracted nuclei that I think could be the way they count sperm at fertility clinics. A small amount of the sample would be placed on a specially made slide with a grid on it. You calculate sperm density by counting the sperm in a given area and then using the volume of the sample (usually a mililiter) to determine the count.

I can’t definitively verify that this is how it’s done, but the method is pretty solid. Wikipedia’s got nothing, and a google search turns up so many fertility faqs that it’s damned near impossible to filter through them.

[Smeghead]

There are machines called Fluorescent-Activated Cell Sorters (FACS machines, pronounced “fax”) that can automatically count and sort large numbers of individual cells that have been tagged with fluorescent labels. I have absolutely no idea if they’re used for sperm counts.

[Bryan_Ekers]

Show of hands.

[KP]

I just pray that our hospital doesn’t send the samples to Florida for counting

[cstamets]

@Khan

There’s a procedure from a lab I did in college that involved counting extracted nuclei that I think could be the way they count sperm at fertility clinics. A small amount of the sample would be placed on a specially made slide with a grid on it. You calculate sperm density by counting the sperm in a given area and then using the volume of the sample (usually a mililiter) to determine the count.

This is how it was done by the lab that I was going to when my wife and I were going through fertility testing and treatments.

[An_Arky]

@inkleberry

How do they count sperm in fertility samples? Is there some guy out there who sits around all day and counts…<snip>…?

I see the makings of another one of those power ballad Bud Light commercials…
Everyday, making sure all those microscopic squigglies get counted…

Mr. Fertility Sample Sperm Counter!

Hats off to you, Mr. Fertility Sample Sperm Counter!

Making sure that spunk is gooood!

[monica]

@An Arky

I see the makings of another one of those power ballad Bud Light commercials…
Everyday, making sure all those microscopic squigglies get counted…

Mr. Fertility Sample Sperm Counter!

Hats off to you, Mr. Fertility Sample Sperm Counter!

Making sure that spunk is gooood!

[sleeepy2]

I use a pretty standard Olympus microscope at work and I, uh… checked it out.
A regular glass slide and cover slip, and there were all my little swimmers. If there were a grid on the lens, they wouldn’t be hard to count at all.

They’re faster than I’d thought.

[pkbites]

@Khan

There’s a procedure from a lab I did in college that involved counting extracted nuclei that I think could be the way they count sperm at fertility clinics. A small amount of the sample would be placed on a specially made slide with a grid on it. You calculate sperm density by counting the sperm in a given area and then using the volume of the sample (usually a mililiter) to determine the count.

Is this also how it’s done for a mans post-vasectomy tests?

[cstamets]

@pkbites

Is this also how it’s done for a mans post-vasectomy tests?

I would imagine. The difference between a post-vasectomy count and a fertility count is that with a post-vasectomy count, you’re generally not worried about things like motility. You just want to know whether they’re there or not.