Superhydrophobic Soot Coated Quartz Crystal Microbalances: A Novel Platform for Human Spermatozoa Quality Assessment

The functionality of human spermatozoa is a key factor for the success rate of natural human reproduction, but unfortunately the infertility progressively increases due to multifarious environmental factors. Such disquieting statistics requires the employment of sophisticated computer-assisted methods for semen quality analysis, whose precision, however, is unreliable in cases of patients with low sperm concentrations. In this study, we report a novel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based biosensor for in-situ quality assessment of male gametes, comprising a superhydrophobic soot coating as an interface sensing material. The soot deposition on the surface of a 5 MHz QCM eliminates the noise that normally arises upon immersion of the uncoated sensor in the test liquid environment, allowing the detection of human spermatozoa down to 1000–100,000 units/mL (1–100 ppb). Furthermore, the soot coated QCM delimitates in a highly repeatable way the immotile and motile sperm cells by inducing fundamentally distinct responses in respect to sensor sensitivity and signal trends. The obtained results reveal the strong potential of the superhydrophobic QCM for future inclusion in diverse laboratory analyses closely related to the in vitro fertilization procedures, with a final aim of gaining practical approaches for diagnoses and selection of male gametes.

[1]  H. Stoeckli,et al.  Specific and non-specific interactions on non-porous carbon black surfaces , 2007 .

[2]  B. A. Martin,et al.  Flow profile above a quartz crystal vibrating in liquid , 1989 .

[3]  D. Goulis,et al.  The effects of sperm quality on embryo development after intracytoplasmic sperm injection , 2006, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics.

[4]  H. Muramatsu,et al.  Energy Dissipation at Ultrasonically Oscillating Superhydrophobic Surface in Various Liquids , 2005 .

[5]  M. Thompson,et al.  Casein probe–based fast plasmin determination in the picomolar range by an ultra-high frequency acoustic wave biosensor , 2018, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

[6]  G. Sauerbrey.  Verwendung von Schwingquarzen zur Wägung dünner Schichten und zur Mikrowägung , 1959 .

[7]  M. Tomlinson,et al.  One-step disposable chambers for sperm concentration and motility assessment: how do they compare with the World Health Organization's recommended methods? , 2001, Human reproduction.

[8]  Chunyan Yao,et al.  Detection of Fibrinogen and Coagulation Factor VIII in Plasma by a Quartz Crystal Microbalance Biosensor , 2013, Sensors.

[9]  Christian P. Fergusson,et al.  Kinetically driven graphite-like to diamond-like carbon transformation in low temperature laminar diffusion flames , 2017 .

[10]  B. Vollenhoven,et al.  Fresh versus frozen embryo transfer: backing clinical decisions with scientific and clinical evidence. , 2014, Human reproduction update.

[11]  P. Roach,et al.  Decoupling of the liquid response of a superhydrophobic quartz crystal microbalance. , 2007, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[12]  A. Spira,et al.  Contribution of environmental factors to the risk of male infertility. , 2001, Human reproduction.

[13]  David Mortimer,et al.  Computer-Aided Sperm Analysis (CASA) of sperm motility and hyperactivation. , 2013, Methods in molecular biology.

[14]  C. Krausz,et al.  Genetics of male infertility , 2018, Nature Reviews Urology.

[15]  W. Duncan-Hewitt,et al.  Four-layer theory for the acoustic shear wave sensor in liquids incorporating interfacial slip and liquid structure , 1992 .

[16]  R. Cairncross,et al.  Characterization of superhydrophobic materials using multiresonance acoustic shear wave sensors , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[17]  J. Kwak,et al.  pH-Dependent Viscosity Enhancement in Aqueous Systems of Hydrophobically Modified Acrylamide and Acrylic Acid Copolymers , 2002 .

[18]  Christian P. Fergusson,et al.  Rational strategy for the atmospheric icing prevention based on chemically functionalized carbon soot coatings , 2016 .

[19]  Michael I. Newton,et al.  Low-Cost QCM Sensor System for Screening Semen Samples , 2010, J. Sensors.

[20]  G. McHale,et al.  Manipulated wettability of a superhydrophobic quartz crystal microbalance through electrowetting , 2013 .

[21]  R. Mohammadi,et al.  Early stage anti-bioadhesion behavior of superhydrophobic soot based coatings towards Pseudomonas putida , 2018, Materials & Design.

[22]  M. Maggi,et al.  Sexual dysfunction and male infertility , 2018, Nature Reviews Urology.

[23]  A Spira,et al.  Intra- and inter-individual variability in human sperm concentration, motility and vitality assessment during a workshop involving ten laboratories. , 2000, Human reproduction.

[24]  S. Andleeb,et al.  Blueprint of quartz crystal microbalance biosensor for early detection of breast cancer through salivary autoantibodies against ATP6AP1. , 2015, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[25]  Nathalie Tufenkji,et al.  QCM-D for non-destructive real-time assessment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm attachment to the substratum during biofilm growth. , 2015, Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces.

[26]  R. Mohammadi,et al.  Rapid synthesis of inherently robust and stable superhydrophobic carbon soot coatings , 2016 .

[27]  M. Thompson,et al.  Interfacial properties and the response of the thickness-shear-mode acoustic wave sensor in liquids , 1993 .

[28]  Christian P. Fergusson,et al.  Single-step flame synthesis of carbon nanoparticles with tunable structure and chemical reactivity , 2016 .

[29]  R. Mohammadi,et al.  Delayed condensation and frost formation on superhydrophobic carbon soot coatings by controlling the presence of hydrophilic active sites , 2018 .

[30]  K. Monkos.  On the hydrodynamics and temperature dependence of the solution conformation of human serum albumin from viscometry approach. , 2004, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[31]  S. Oehninger,et al.  Semen analysis and sperm function testing. , 2012, Asian journal of andrology.

[32]  Naina Kumar,et al.  Trends of male factor infertility, an important cause of infertility: A review of literature , 2015, Journal of human reproductive sciences.

[33]  J. Gordon,et al.  Frequency of a quartz microbalance in contact with liquid , 1985 .

[34]  G. Sauerbrey,et al.  Use of quartz vibration for weighing thin films on a microbalance , 1959 .

[35]  Reza Mohammadi,et al.  An artful method for in-situ assessment of the anti-biofouling potential of various functional coatings using a quartz crystal microbalance , 2017 .

[36]  E. Pişkin,et al.  Glow-discharge treated piezoelectric quartz crystals as immunosensors for HSA detection. , 2002, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[37]  L. Mátyus,et al.  DNA flow cytometry of human spermatozoa: Consistent stoichiometric staining of sperm DNA using a novel decondensation protocol , 2008, Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology.

[38]  A. Isidori,et al.  Smoke, alcohol and drug addiction and male fertility , 2018, Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology.

[39]  Rui Li,et al.  Reproducible Molecularly Imprinted Piezoelectric Sensor for Accurate and Sensitive Detection of Ractopamine in Swine and Feed Products , 2018, Sensors.

[40]  Stephen J. Martin,et al.  Characterization of a quartz crystal microbalance with simultaneous mass and liquid loading , 1991 .

[41]  R. Mohammadi,et al.  Interactions of superhydrophobic carbon soot coatings with short alkyl chain alcohols and fluorocarbon solutions , 2017 .

[42]  Hui Zhang,et al.  Performance Enhancement of Interdigital Electrode-Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal (IDE-PQC) Salt Concentration Sensor by Increasing the Electrode Area of Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal (PQC) , 2018, Sensors.