Toward a Microfluidics-Based Home Male Fertility Test.

Consumers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their own health. One of the most familiar direct-to-consumer diagnostics tests has been the home pregnancy test. In this issue of Clinical Chemistry , Nosrati et al. (1) report their clever and practical approach toward developing a new point-of-care diagnostic test for another reproductive health need—the assessment of male fertility.The authors developed the test using paper, a familiar substrate used in pregnancy tests and the subject of a flurry of recent improvements in microfluidics (2). The authors placed at the bottom one laminate layer, and on top, paper layers patterned with wax (3). With the paper test they aimed to quantify sperm concentration via a dye that changes color in the presence of an enzyme (diaphorase flavoprotein) that resides within metabolically active human sperm. In one spot on the paper, the sample reacts directly with the dried dye. In a second spot, sperm must swim vertically through a highly viscous …