For the first time in the country, Nova IVI Fertility, India's leading chain of fertility centres, has introduced Magnetic-Activated Cell Sorting (MACS) system, an efficient method to select functional sperm and enhance pregnancy rates.

Genetic integrity of the sperm cell is crucial for embryo development. A high level of DNA fragmentation in spermatozoon can lead to abnormal embryo cleavage resulting in blastocyst arrest or early miscarriage. DNA fragmentation that leads to sperm apoptosis is major cause of male infertility that standard methods – sperm concentration, morphology assessment and motility analysis cannot identify, said Dr Richa Jagtap, fertility consultant at Nova IVI Fertility in Chembur, Mumbai.

The pregnancy rates in IVF/ICSI has by far plateaued and efforts are on to improve the pregnancy rates beyond the current yardsticks, she pointed out.

MACS improves success of IVF/ICSI by 5-10 per cent. MACS applies a magnetic field through which the semen sample is run. The magnetic forces will attract and bind the fragmented DNA containing sperms leaving the better sperms to come out unaffected. These selected sperms are then seen under high power microscope to further select the best looking sperms. The resultant good quality sperms are then used for fertilising the eggs, said Dr Jagtap.

Till now this technique was not available in India. However it is being used now in some centres of excellence to steer towards higher pregnancy rates, better live birth rate and happier patients, she added.

Sperms are formed through the reproductive years and also till late older years of a man's life. IVF/ICSI gives a chance for external fertilisation after choosing morphologically best eggs and sperms. Sperms can be examined outside to adjudge the quality and thus best looking sperms can be selected for the process.

Many times, normal looking sperms give low fertilisation, bad quality embryos and hence decreased pregnancy rates. The cause of this has been ascribed to many factors and one of the most important one amongst these are DNA fragmentation index or in simple words, the percentage of nicked or spoiled DNA in sperms. This is a parameter which cannot be ascertained from just looking at sperm with a microscope.

MACS helps us to segregate healthier sperms with more intact DNA in chromosomes, with the help of a special magnetic field.

The nicks in chromosomes or DNA fragmentation point to high cell damage. A major reason for sperm DNA damage is oxidative stress rising with the age or inflammatory infections, smoking, drug use, exposure to environmental pollutants and high testicular temperature, she said.

All these lead to increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body. These ROS bind to the genetic material or chromosomes and causes something like erosion of bits and pieces thereof, she stated.

The good news is that as sperms are produced every day every hour, there will be a good percentage of fresh sperms formed which have lesser of these defects. Eggs on the other hand, as we know are pre stored in the woman's body and new eggs are not formed through the lifetime, she concluded.

MACS System is used to remove defective cells from sperm preparations. Intact living sperm cells without DNA fragmentation pass through the column and are collected for subsequent use (ICSI or cryopreservation), she added.

MACS technology has advantage over traditional DNA fragmentation tests in which a patient gets details on percentage of damaged cells. Similarly, morphological assessing methods, viz, IMSI, cannot provide proper details about the status of the DNA in the sperm nucleus, she stated.

Nova IVI Fertility is equipped with state of the art laboratories and well trained staff to provide patients best infertility treatment, she informed.

Our aim is to give patients the best chance of achieving a pregnancy through single embryo transfer while doing away with unnecessary risk of multiple pregnancy, she concluded.