Methods of Sperm Vitality Assessment

Sperm vitality is a reflection of the proportion of live, membrane-intact spermatozoa determined by either dye exclusion or osmoregulatory capacity under hypo-osmotic conditions. In this chapter we address the two most common methods of sperm vitality assessment: eosin–nigrosin staining and the hypo-osmotic swelling test, both utilized in clinical Andrology laboratories.