Considering 70% genetic similarity with human, zebrafish has become one of the important lab animal model. However, there is no-existing method to-date to select morphologically superior sperms. A novel method needs to be developed to select superior sperms. By adopting microfluidic and artificial cilia technology, we can perform zebrafish sperm activation in Lab on-chip system, increasing the efficiency and lowing the cost of the process. Uniform and fast mixing of sperms and diluent are the key points of zebrafish sperm activation. By the serpentine geometry and the rotation of embedded artificial cilia, uniform vortex can be created to achieve high mixing efficiency. With the design we can achieve 74.4% of activation rate, which is 20% higher than that by manual mixing. Following the aforementioned microchannel, activated sperms can enter the channel for selection immediately and complete the selection process in short period of time.

One of the common sperm activation methods is manual stirring, which can achieve only about 50% of activation rate. Furthermore, the manual method is easy to be affected by human factors. We adapted the artificial cilia technology to achieve effective and fast mixing. By the serpentine channel design and circular rotation of artificial cilia, we can create vortices to achieve high mixing efficiency. In short, this technology can elevate the activation rate of zebrafish sperms and select superior quality sperms selection towards in-vitro fertilization success of zebrafish. Furthermore, the integration of activation and selection processes by microfluidic can raise the effectiveness of the zebrafish fertilization.

Recently, many researchers have used zebrafish in medical experiments, such as drug tests and gene screening. With the increasing number of zebrafish-related researches and experiments, the value of an effective technology for fertilization is quite significant. We used a single lab-on-a-chip system to activate and select sperms through artificial cilia equipped with hydrodynamic benefits. By elevating the efficiency and stability of the presented system, it provides the potentials to integrate all the processes necessary for in-vitro fertilization.