Investigating phototoxicity of optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in porcine and human sperm
Aquilina et al., 2025
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an advanced imaging technology that uses a specialized light source to create detailed 3D pictures of biological tissues without touching them. OCT is widely used in ophthalmology to image the retina, but it has also been applied in microscopy.
This study investigated whether OCT microscopy could safely visualize live sperm without causing damage from the light exposure (phototoxicity). Researchers tested both pig and human sperm, exposing them to different levels of infrared light similar to what would be used during a specialized OCT microscopy session. They measured sperm movement, vitality, and DNA integrity after exposure. The results showed no harmful effects on sperm parameters, even at light levels much higher than typically used for imaging.
The study also demonstrated that OCT could visualize sperm swimming through the cloud of cells (cumulus) that naturally surrounds eggs, capturing this three-dimensional movement in real-time for the first time. This finding suggests OCT could become a valuable tool for assessing sperm behavior before and during fertilization and selecting the best sperm for fertility treatments without risking damage from light exposure.