Dataset for Evaluation of a novel microfluidic chip-like device for purifying bovine frozen-thawed semen for in vitro fertilization

VetCount^TM Harvester (MotilityCount ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a novel sperm<br> purification device. It consists of two chambers separated by a 10 μM microporous<br> membrane. Untreated semen is applied in one chamber, sperm collection medium<br> in the other. Motile sperm cells are selected by actively swimming through the<br> membrane pores into the medium containing chamber. After 30 min incubation,<br> the sperm collection medium can be aspirated and the purified sperm is ready<br> for further use.<br> In a first experiment we assessed sperm quality and recovery of frozen-thawed semen<br> from six different bulls (n = 6) prior to and after purification with the<br> VetCount^TM Harvester or BoviPure^TM gradient centrifugation, a commercial available standard technique. In a second approach, a competitive fertilization assay was performed. Ten straws per bull were pooled, split<br> in two subsamples, and simultaneously purified either with the VetCount^TM Harvester<br> or BoviPure^TM gradient centrifugation. Following purification, sperm cells<br> from each treatment group were fluorescently labeled with either MitoTracker^TM<br> Red FM or MitoTracker^TM Green FM. <em>In vitro</em> matured oocytes were inseminated with<br> equal numbers of red and green labeled sperm. Eighteen hours after fertilization,<br> fluorescence microscopy was used to determine the origin of the fertilizing spermatozoon.