Sperm Vitality Test
Sperm vitality - the number of live and dead sperm cells in a semen sample - is especially important to assess for patients with less than about 40% progressively motile spermatozoa. This test acts as a check on motility evaluation, since the number of dead cells should not exceed the percentage of immotile sperm cells. The presence of a large proportion of immotile and non-viable cells (necrozoospermia) may indicate epididymal pathology (Wilton et al., 1988; Correa-Perez et al., 2004); and a high percentage of vital but immotile cells may be indicative of structural defects in the flagellum (Chemes and Rawe, 2003).
DuoVital® differentiates between live and dead sperm cells by identifying those cells with an intact cell membrane that can exclude intracellular dyes. Using DuoVital®, live cells appear green and dead cells appear red under a fluorescence microscope. DuoVital® is fast and easy to use. In addition, the results may measured using a flow cytometer or CASA system for a high-throughput analysis.