Efficiency of discontinuous percoll gradients preparation for selection of motile sperm from poor quality semens

Efficiency of discontinuous Percoll gradients preparation for selection of motile sperm from poor quality semens was studied in 106 semen samples, of which 52 were normozoospermia, 9 were oligozoospermia, 29 were asthenozoospermia, and 16 were oligoasthenozoospermia. Sperms from each semen sample were recovered by the discontinuous two-layer (50%/100%) Percoll centrifugation technique. Overall motile sperm recovery rate was about 27 per cent. The results obtained in this study indicated that sperm selection by this method from oligozoospermic and oligoasthenozoospermic semen samples was not as good as normozoospermic semen samples because per cent progressive motility showed no statistically significant improvement after sperm selection in oligozoospermic and oligoasthenozoospermic semen samples. Moreover, total sperm recovery rate and motile sperm recovery rate of oligozoospermic semen samples were less than normozoospermic samples significantly (p < 0.01 and p < 0.005, respectively).