How long can sperm live after washing?

The article is professionally consulted by an IVF Specialist. Tran Hue Tran - Reproductive Support Center - Vinmec Times City International General Hospital

For normal fertilization, after intercourse, semen is released into the vagina. Healthy sperm will fertilize an egg, which swims through the mucus layer of the cervix to enter the female reproductive tract. With healthy sperm, with good mobility, they will separate from the semen to continue to enter the uterus and go to the fallopian tubes to fertilize an egg. The function of semen is to neutralize and protect sperm from the acidic environment of the vagina, besides, semen also takes on the task of stabilizing and nourishing sperm. But semen also has many negative effects on sperm after being released into a woman's vagina. Semen contains substances that block the activation of the sperm head, preventing the sperm's pole response. Many bacteria reside in the semen, besides, semen is also a place where many pathogens are found in the urinary tract. male genitalia.
In semen there is a substance called Prostagladin, which can cause uterine contractions when it is pumped into the uterine cavity. In addition, in semen, there are dead cells, immobile sperm, white blood cells, debris, bacteria, toxins, making sperm quality and normal fertilization physiological process affected. Injecting semen directly into the uterus can cause allergies or anaphylaxis.
For the above reasons, it is necessary to separate sperm from semen as soon as possible.

Normal sperm can live in the female reproductive tract and still be able to fertilize an egg for at least 2-4 days.
After washing, sperm can live from 24 to 72 hours, but after 24 hours, the quality of sperm has decreased significantly.
After 6 - 12 hours after ovulation, sperm has the highest ability to penetrate the membrane to fertilize.
The husband needs to abstain from sex with his wife for 2 to 7 days to collect a semen sample, this semen sample will be filtered. Some studies have shown that sperm can live for 5 days in the mucus of the genital tract.

There are many methods to filter and wash sperm, but currently there are two most popular methods that are Swim-up method and Gradient method (concentration scale).
Swim - up method The medium is placed on top of the semen and incubated in an incubator at 37oC, after a while the sperm escape from the seminal layer below to swim to the open surface of the medium, this sperm will be collected. received and used for the treatment of infertility.
This method is simple and easy to implement. Sperm with good motility increases the chances of conception. This method only applies to the initial sperm sample of relatively good quality because otherwise the remaining number will be very small because not all sperm will swim up. During the implementation of this method, some impurities may diffuse into the medium or may be carried by the sperm during the ascent.

Gradient method This method is used to separate sperm from semen and cell residues based on the ability to filter through different concentration ranges. Well motile sperm will gather at the bottom of the test tube and will be concentrated in a small volume. This method is also simple and easy to implement. Can be applied to many sperm samples including samples with high viscosity, sperm samples with little, weak or deformed sperm often prefer to use this method. This method can remove white blood cells, oxidants, toxins and bacteria. Sperm obtained by this method have a high percentage of morphologically normal.
These sperm washing methods are currently being applied at the Reproductive Support Center - Vinmec International General Hospital.
The sperm washing method for artificial insemination at Vinmec is carried out methodically and scientifically, in a sterile environment and conditions of international standards, ensuring the best sperm quality. The sperm washing process is performed by leading modern medical equipment, under the supervision of leading infertility treatment experts and doctors, helping the process of artificial insemination. create the best results.