Disposable paper-based microfluidics for fertility testing
Misagh Rezapour Sarabi, Defne Yigci, M. Munzer Alseed, Begüm Aydoğan Mathyk, Barış Ata, Cihan Halıcıgil, Savaş Taşoğlu
Abstract
fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), have been successful in overcoming various reasons for infertility including borderline and severe male factor infertility which consists of 20%-30% of all infertile cases. Approximately half of male infertility cases stem from suboptimal sperm parameters. Therefore, healthy/normal sperm enrichment and sorting remains crucial in advancing reproductive medicine. Microfluidic technologies have emerged as promising tools to develop in-home rapid fertility tests and point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tools. Here, we review advancements in fabrication methods for paper-based microfluidic devices and their emerging fertility testing applications assessing sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm DNA analysis, and other sperm functionalities, and provide a glimpse into future directions for paper-based fertility microfluidic systems.