The hemizona assay: a simplified technique.

The hemizona assay is an important diagnostic tool in assessing human sperm fertilizing potential. Previous hemizona assay results have proven that this functional test is a good predictor of fertilization in vitro and can be used in clinical practice to supply additional information in male factor subfertility cases. The objective of this study was to compare two methods for cutting human zona pellucida into equal halves (manual handcutting versus micromanipulation) in order to examine the necessity of an expensive micromanipulator in performing this assay. Comparable results for recovery rate, diameter size of the hemizonae, and sperm binding were achieved with both methods. According to these results, the use of an expensive micromanipulator is not essential in performing the hemizona assay.