Through ICSI, issues of low sperm count and poor motility are combatted successfully. But with ICSI, a loophole is that sperm selection was left to the eye of the embryologist. Till recently, there was no firm way of knowing if a normal-looking sperm was mature and able to successfully fertilize the egg.
This is where Physiological Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection or PICSI comes into play within the ICSI process. PICSI ensures better sperm selection by narrowing the sperm sample to only the most mature sperms that successfully bind to Hyaluronan. Hyaluronan is a substance that is found in many tissues of the body, most importantly for us in the cells that surround the human egg.
Mature sperm have a higher ability to bind with Hyaluronan, which means they have a higher ability to bind with an egg. Studies have shown that high Hyaluronan binding sperm have better morphology, more motility, and greater maturity than sperm that don’t bind or don’t bind well. These suitable sperm in turn have lower rates of chromosomal abnormalities and higher probability of producing a pregnancy. The PICSI dish is a petri dish coated with Hyaluronan dots. Sperm are placed in the dish and the ones that bind to the Hyaluronan dots are selected for ICSI in the Dubai procedure. Embryos resulting from the PICSI-ICSI are transplanted back into the woman’s uterus for implantation and have yielded excellent results in successful pregnancies.