MFI ladies- Progressive Motility (grade)?

MsGMChick · November 2011

Hi! MH has always had "good" motility at 75%. Yay, right? IDK. Our grading is always 1-2. If they aren't moving their tails (a 1) or are moving their tails but not propelling forward in any way (a 2).. How the hell are they motile?

Explain, please? Thank you!!

sbrowns08 · November 2011

Grades one and two "move," but not accurately enough to make it to the egg. Non-motile sperm have no motion at all. The ones and twos may seem useless, however they usually form a protective layer around the strong forward moving ones as they are making their way through the uterus. They die off quickly but hopefully are around long enough to allow the strong ones to get where they need to go. Unfortunately if you have a majority of ones and twos though then they wouldn't make it to the tubes.

MsGMChick · November 2011

darn spermies.

Can you help me with the grading scale? I thought a 1 didn't move their tail, a 2 moved it's tail but didn't progress forward, a 3 moved forward in a crooked or looped fashion, and a 4 was the straight swimming guys? Thanks, dear. I was hoping you'd answer

sbrowns08 · November 2011

MsGMChick:
darn spermies.
Can you help me with the grading scale? I thought a 1 didn't move their tail, a 2 moved it's tail but didn't progress forward, a 3 moved forward in a crooked or looped fashion, and a 4 was the straight swimming guys? Thanks, dear. I was hoping you'd answer

There are tons of different scales for this, but you're spot on! The 4s generally have a "torpedo like" quality that propel towards the egg. These are the ones that survive the wash for IUI. It's amazing how quickly the uterus kills off even those good ones though!