Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Asian J Androl. 2011 May;13(3):406-19. doi: 10.1038/aja.2011.15. Epub 2011 Apr 11.
Flow cytometry is now a recognized methodology within animal spermatology, and has moved from being a research tool to become routine in the assessment of animal semen destined to breeding. The availability of 'bench-top' flow cytometers and of newer and versatile markers for cell structure and function had allowed the instrumentation to measure more sperm parameters, from viability to reactiveness when exposed to exogenous stimuli, and to increase our capabilities to sort spermatozoa for potential fertilizing capacity, or chromosomal sex. The present review summarizes the state of the art regarding flow cytometry applied to animal andrology, albeit keeping an open comparative intent. It critically evaluates the present and future capabilities of flow cytometry for the diagnostics of potential fertility and for the development of current reproductive technologies such as sperm freezing, sperm selection and sperm sorting. The flow cytometry methods will probably further revolutionize our understanding of the sperm physiology and their functionality, and will undoubtedly extend its application in isolating many uncharacterized features of spermatozoa. However, continuous follow-up of the methods is a necessity owing to technical developments and the complexity of mapping spermatozoa.
流式细胞术现在是动物精子学中的一种公认方法，已经从研究工具发展成为评估用于繁殖的动物精液的常规方法。台式流式细胞仪的出现以及用于细胞结构和功能的新型多功能标记物，使得该仪器能够测量更多的精子参数，从活力到对外源刺激的反应性，并提高我们分选精子以获得潜在受精能力或染色体性别的能力。本综述总结了流式细胞术在动物生殖医学中的应用现状，尽管保持了开放的比较意图。它批判性地评估了流式细胞术在潜在生育力诊断和当前生殖技术（如精子冷冻、精子选择和精子分选）发展中的当前和未来能力。流式细胞术方法可能会进一步彻底改变我们对精子生理学及其功能的理解，并无疑将扩展其在分离精子许多未表征特征方面的应用。然而，由于技术发展和精子图谱的复杂性，对方法的持续跟踪是必要的。
