ABSTRACT
The human ejaculate is comprised of a mixture of seminal plasma, mature and immature spermatozoa, non-reproductive cells, various micro-organisms and non-specific debris. In preparation for intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in υitro fertilization (IVF), the motile, and hopefully, the most fertilizable population of sperm must be separated from the surrounding milieu. Many studies have been performed comparing direct semen processing procedures (i.e. simple wash, swim-up, etc.) with gradient separation techniques. Sperm separation using, a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated, silica-based density gradient (Percoll®), has been shown by numerous investigators to be an effective and relatively simple way of producing a viable, highly motile, morphologically normal and fertilizable population of sperm for use in both IUI and IVF.1
