Assessment of the sephadex technique for selection of X-bearing human sperm by analysis of sperm chromosomes, deoxyribonucleic acid and Y-bodies.

The effectiveness of sephadex sperm filtration on altering the sex ratio of human sperm was tested using three different methods. For each ejaculate the ratio of X- and Y-bearing sperm was analysed before and after sephadex filtration using three different methodologies: sperm chromosome analysis after fusion of human sperm with hamster oocytes, deoxyribonucleic acid analysis using the Y-preferential probe pS4 and the fluorescent Y-body test. In 182 sephadex-treated sperm analysed by sperm chromosomes the sex ratio (55.5%X) did not differ significantly from 226 untreated sperm (54.7%X) from the same semen samples. The DNA and Y-body tests demonstrated variability in both degree and pattern of enrichment for replicates but no consistent enrichment for X-chromosome-bearing sperm was observed for any one fraction after sephadex gel filtration.