Conclusion
Oocyte insemination with as little as 2 x 103 motile sperm showed sufficient sperm-zona binding capacity to be indicative of fertilization potential, supporting the Walking Egg simplified IVF insemination protocol. No difference in DNA fragmentation was observed between conventional and the simplified IVF culture systems, while reactive oxygen species formation was indicated to be at a slower rate during incubation with the Walking Egg simplified IVF culture system than with conventional IVF.
Results
Sperm-zona binding in 50 μl culture media, indicated mean sperm binding of more than 20 sperm per hemi-zona with as low as 1000 sperm used for insemination. Using a higher volume of culture media, as is done in the Walking Egg simplified IVF culture system, resulted in 42.8% reduced sperm-zona binding. No significant difference in DNA integrity was observed between the two test groups. The amount of ROS generated during conventional IVF in the first 18 hours of incubation was more than that produced in the simplified culture system over sixty-six hours. Only during extended culture for 114 hours in the simplified culture system, did the ROS generated slightly surpass that of conventional IVF at 18 hours.