As long as the samples contains Motile Sperm Cells, they can be used with the SwimCount® Harvester. Dilution will not affect the use of the SwimCount® Harvester.

No, the thawed frozen sperm cells do not need to be washed. You can say that when the Motile Sperm Cells migrate through the pores of the membrane and into the medium that the sperm cells are washed automatically.

The only thing to consider if you culture for more than 30 Minutes is that the Motile Sperm Cells run out of energy. But 30 Minutes compared to 35 Minutes will not have any effect.

The lower limit is 50.000 sperm cells/mL. We have not seen an upper limit yet.

The average recovery rate is around 30%.

There is a risk of diffusion, that will be comparable to the swim-up method. Some do centrifugation when they do swim-up some do not. We would suggest that you perform the SwimCount® Harvester WITHOUT gradient centrifugation.

It is not recommended to use the SwimCount® Harvester if total Asthenozoospermia is present.

Yes, If the sample can be aspirated into the syringe it would be fine. If the sample is so viscose that it cannot be used with the syringe, then culture medium should be added into the sample.

There are several reasons behind the fact that no mixing occurs between the Sample Compartment and the Medium Compartment because:

1. The SwimCount® Harvester membrane system prevents a mixing of the sample and the medium
2. The design of the system eliminates any pressure built up in the two chambers, so that the added sample stays in the Sample Compartment and the added medium also stays in the Medium Compartment

Basically, the SwimCount® Harvester employs the principle of swim-up, however, compared to swim-up the SwimCount® Harvester is much more efficient with a much greater surface/volume area and with a much more stable interface between the sample and the medium making the system robust and resulting in a better sperm quality for IUI (3 mL device version), IVF (1 mL or 3 mL device version) & ICSI (1 mL device version)

The SwimCount® Harvester is recommended to be used for all patients (IUI, IVF and ICSI), but it is especially indicated to be used for couples with previous spontaneous/missed abortions and male patients with high DNA-fragmentation in their semen samples.

The SwimCount® Harvester does not require a specific culture medium, so whatever medium the clinic prefers can be used. You should, however, be aware that media without MOPS or HEPES should be incubated in a CO2-incubator. Please consult the product information from the supplier of the culture medium.

Gamma radiation is highly energetic and can break chemical bonds in the pigments or dyes used in printing inks. This may cause:

• Color Fading: The breaking of bonds in chromophores (color-producing molecules) can lead to less vibrant colors.
• Color Shift: Altered molecular structures might absorb and reflect light differently, resulting in changes to the hue.
• The printer specification and reproducibility: There will always be some variations when printing colors, which are related to the printer itself and the actual color of the ink.

This does NOT have any influence on the functionality of the SwimCount® Harvester and is only a visual color alteration.

Yes, you MUST only use the green syringes or syringes that meet the requirements below:

The syringe must be a 2 piece component.

• The syringe must be made out of polypropylene (BARREL) and the plunger OUT OF polyethylene.
• Cannot contain silicone oil, Polyvinylchloride (PVC), Bisphenol A (BPA), Diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) and Latex

The SwimCount® Harvester is a Closed Device System which means:

• Easy-to-use when adding and aspirating the semen sample and sperm preparation medium respectively
• No risk for contamination from the surrounding environment
• No evaporation of the sperm preparation medium
• No risk of spillage

The chamber above the membrane is the same for both the 1 mL as well as the 3 mL version (it is only the chamber below the membrane that has a different size)

With the SwimCount® Harvester you can expect the same or better, because the SwimCount® Harvester have a larger membrane area to sample volume.

The Concentration should be app. 3 Million Progressive Motile Sperm Cells (PMSCs) per mL, which means that there should be app. 4 Million PMSCs in Total in the aspirate