CatFlux

Innovative sperm function test consisting of buffer solutions for carrying out the CatSper test.

CatSper – the sperm’s key to the egg

To fertilize the egg, sperm must break through its protective coat. This requires CatSper, a large protein complex in the sperm flagellum.

It is well known that loss of CatSper function is associated with male infertility. When CatSper is defective, sperm fail to penetrate the egg coat and fertilization fails.

In the case of CatSper-related infertility, medically-assisted reproduction via IUI (insemination) and IVF is doomed to fail. Affected couples require ICSI to conceive a child.

However, CatSper-related infertility is undetectable by standard semen analysis.

Current studies suggest that about one in one hundred infertile men with unremarkable semen analysis suffer from a loss of CatSper function. The causes are genetic defects in one of the fifteen CatSper subunits. The CATSPER2 gene is most commonly affected; cases with CATSPER1-, CATSPER3-, or CATSPERE-gene defects have also been described. The failure of semen analysis to detect a CatSper-related infertility leads to severe consequences: the couple is often not recognized as infertile. Alternatively, the diagnosis of “unexplained infertility” is given and attempts of medically-assisted reproduction by IUI or IVF are made, which, however, are doomed to fail.

The CatSper test makes visible what was once invisible.

With “CatFlux“, Truion GmbH offers andrological laboratories CE-certified buffer solutions to perform the innovative CatSper-Test in parallel with a standard semen analysis.

To perform the test, a tiny portion of the raw ejaculate (40 µl) is diluted with the CatFlux Buffers developed by us. After sixty minutes of incubation, the percentage of motile sperm is analyzed under the microscope. Sperm with intact CatSper function are immotile in the CatFlux Test Buffer. On the other hand, sperm continuing to swim in the CatFlux Test Buffer is a strong indication of a loss of CatSper function.

Performing the CatSper-Test using CatFlux enables early detection of CatSper-related infertility and evidence-based selection of fertility treatment.