Researchers at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) report they have developed a novel technology for sorting semen to produce offspring of the desired sex through artificial insemination, according to an article from everythinglubbock.com.
The new method uses a chemical process called chemotaxis to create a “trail” for sperm cells bearing the Y chromosome to follow, according to a news release from Texas Tech University. The researchers refer to their technology as a semen selection chamber (SSC).
Researchers Samuel Prien, PhD., and Lindsay Penrose, PhD., with the TTUHSC Department of Ob/Gyn, reported their work in a paper titled “A Preparatory Technique for Semen Selection.” Using the SSC method with semen from 14 bulls, they were able to sort X- and Y-bearing sperm cells at a ratio of 35 to 65 percent with one of the chemical solutions tested. They estimate this SSC method could result in a male conception rate of 72 percent.
“The course of our research allowed us to select for males first,” Penrose says in the university news release. “But with modification, selection for females is possible as well. We found that the cell would pick the preferred chemical pathway and follow it.”
Another method for sex-sorting semen, known as cytometric sorting, has been available for some time and currently used in cattle production. The technique can sort X- and Y-bearing sperm cells with an accuracy of around 90 percent. The TTUHSC researchers say the SSC method could reduce the cost of sorting. “Further work with the SSC is justified to determine if it can increase the birth rates of the selected sex,” they note in their conclusions.
The technology has received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and patent rights have been licensed to Reproductive Solutions Inc., using the trademarked name of SureBreed™ for the commercial product.
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