If you're considering the treatment of IVF, you've probably heard about Physiological Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (PICSI) from your doctor. In the IVF procedure, PICSI treatment is a way of selecting the best sperm for fertilization before injecting them into the egg. Hyaluronan is a naturally occurring biopolymer present in all human cells and it creates hydrogel samples that are inserted in the PICSI plate with sperm.
Physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection (PICSI) is a technique for selecting sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Hyaluronic acid (HA), a natural molecule found in the body, is used to coat sperm. PICSI Fertility Treatment identifies sperm with the ability to bind to HA, and these sperm are chosen for therapy. PICSI selects sperm based on how efficiently they adhere to the hyaluronan that surrounds an egg cell. The embryologist isolates mature, biochemically competent sperm and uses them for ICSI. The sperm that was chosen is nearly identical to one that would be successful in a normal reproductive process. A sperm cell's ability to bind to hyaluronic acid increases as it matures, making it better suited to fertilizing the egg.
PICSI (Preselective Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) is a technique for ICSI that simulates the natural selection of mature sperm after Nano bead Sperm Selection. In natural conception, an oocyte can only be fertilized by a sperm capable of binding to the hyaluronan found on the oocyte's surface. A mature sperm is the only one capable of achieving this interaction. Small droplets of hyaluronan are added to a sample of sperm in the PICSI fertility treatment. The sperm that adhere to the hyaluronan are then chosen for ICSI.
As an additional stage in the ICSI process, PICSI Treatment is a non-invasive test done on a semen sample. The dangers linked with ICSI apply to PICSI as well. However, there are no additional recognized dangers associated with PICSI for either the person receiving fertility treatment or the baby delivered as a result of fertility treatment.