What is swim-up?

Swim-up is the term assigned to the oldest method of sperm capacitation. It is a procedure that allows selecting those spermatozoa with the greatest capacity to ascend in a culture medium.

To do this, it is necessary to centrifuge the semen sample and eliminate the supernatant obtained where the seminal plasma and cell debris are found. In addition, the sediment that remains in the tube is resuspended in a specific culture medium.

The tube is then left in an inclined position and at 37 ºC. In this way, the spermatozoa with progressive mobility will ascend through the tube and will be collected after 45 minutes.