IVOS^® II

Applications

Performing semen analysis is essential for various animal research studies and animal breeding in farm-animal systems or veterinary care settings. Our IVOS® II sperm analyzer provides an efficient, automatic method for performing semen assessment in the lab. 

• Animal Breeding 
• Animal Conservation  
• Animal Production 
• Animal Research 
• Transgenics research 
• Animal toxicology (TOX IVOS only)

Specifications

Features & Benefits

IVOS II (Integrated Visual Optics System) contains hardware and software that offers high-end performance and throughput speed in busy labs while maintaining its ease of use. Spend less time on learning a new system with the IVOS® II’s intuitive Windows-based software platform. The settings for the integrated optics are made through the software and mechanical adjustments are rarely required.  

The fast automated stage provides precise temperature control and easy pre-programmed sample positioning, allowing for repeatability in analysis between technicians. Administrators can setup further automatic stage steps of analysis, verification, archiving and data transfer, to make high volume and rapid line speed analysis seemless.

Set the stage temperature from ambient to 40°C as the system remains constant to within the  0.5°C range. Program the stage for either manual or automatic field selection to fit your analysis workflow.

Software

The IVOS® II sperm analyzer is powered by our user-friendly HT CASA software. Analyze static, motile, progressive, slow cell, and total concentration using set parameters or customized algorithms tailored to meet your research needs!

Animal modules for HT CASA software: 

• HT CASA Animal Motility- suitable for animal research applications, transgenic animal models, universities, developmental biology, and more!  Data view focused on research parameters. Choose the specific parameters for your animal study with the software’s unlimited user-defined analysis setups. Contains additional caudal counts.  
• HT CASA Animal Breeder-suitable for animal breeding facilities, veterinarians, universities, farm animal studies, and animal production. Contains additional dosing parameters, a fully automated and customizable tail morphometry detection*, and scoring of doses based on users’ category of normal or abnormal. Defect detection includes: proximal droplets, distal droplets, bent tails, coiled tails, and Distal Midpiece Reflex. *_{Species and media specific by optical clarity}
• HT CASA Boar Breeder-software specific for swine breeding facilities with dose criteria and calculations for boar semen. Contains additional dosing parameters with fully automated and customizable tail morphometry detection and dose scoring based on users’ definition of normal or abnormal. Defect detection includes: proximal droplets, distal droplets, bent tails, coiled tails, and Distal Midpiece Reflex.
• HT CASA Equine Breeder- software specific for equine breeding facilities with dose criteria and calculations for stallion semen. Contains additional dosing parameters to allow for individual doses or batch dose creation.
• HT CASA Animal Toxicology- suitable for toxicology studies, DART studies, drug safety assessment, CROs, pharmaceutical studies, or environmental toxicity studies. Learn more about our TOX IVOS® II sperm analyzer with Animal Toxicology software.

Contact our sales team for further information regarding your specific application!

Color-coded Parameters and Interactive Illumination Check

• Motile sperm identified by color-coded tracks and static sperm identified by red dot.
• Unique color-coded Illumination helps optimize identification of the sperm head and tail.
• Motility track overlay on playback image and results may be visible or turned off.

Analysis Results Updated in Real Time

• Data in the Results panel reflect the entire population of cells analyzed. Analysis and Dosing results are updated in real-time as each field is added to the analysis. 
• Results are saved within image and video gallery. Re-analyze using saved settings or new set of parameters.  
• Selecting a track from the playback image opens up a zoomed image of the cell. Kinematic Measurements are relative only to the selected track. The video may be played or scrolled through frame by frame. 

Analysis Output

Simplify your research with customized parameters to meet your animal research needs! The intuitive HT CASA software provides quantitative results for the following parameters: 

• Total, Static, Motile, Progressive, Slow 
  (Choice of billion or million)
• Concentrations: 
  Total, Static, Motile, Progressive, Slow (Choice of billons/ml or millions/ml) 
• Percentages: 
  %Total, %Static, %Motile, %Progressive, %Slow 
• Doses: 
  Extender Volume
  Final Volume 
  Adjusted Concentration 
  Number of Doses 
• Kinematic Measures: 
  DAP, DSL, DCL, VAP, VSL, VCL, ALH, STR, LIN, BCF, WOB (Average, SD, Median) 
• Morph Averages: 
  Head Length, Head Width 
  Head Perimeter, Head Area 
  Tail Length, Tail Straightness 
  Droplet Distance, Droplet Frame Count 
  Bent Tail Count, Coiled Tail Count, 
  DMR Count 

Customized Reports

• Analysis results can be exported via ASCII file output.  
• Display sperm analysis results with user-friendly drag and drop report designer. 

Optional Software Modules

Morphology  

The HT Morph morphology software automatically classifies the morphology of fixed stained animal sperm samples according to the researcher’s parameters.  HT Morph assesses each sperm cell for size, shape, acrosome, tail, and cytoplasmic droplets. The measured values are then compared to the user-defined parameters for classification as normal, abnormal, or rejected cells.

• Obtain objective, repeatable results when analyzing sperm for normal or abnormal morphology.  
• Classify sperm by morphological characteristics of the sperm head size and shape, acrosome, and tail based on your standards. 
• Create an unlimited number of rule sets to represent a variety of species. 
• Review results in real-time with the ability to override system classification or delete cell from analysis. 
• Compatible with a variety of high contrast stains, such as Stat II, Diff-Quik and Papinicoulau (PAP). 

DNA Fragmentation

The Animal DNA Fragmentation Software is designed to evaluate the level of DNA integrity of semen samples prepared with the Halomax® (Bos taurus or Mus Musculus) test kit from Halotech® DNA based on the Sperm Chromatin Dispersion (SCD) Test. 

• Analyzes prepared sperm samples and measures the size of the halo (large halo, medium halo, small halo, or no halo). 
• Categorizes cells as non-fragmented, fragmented, or degraded.  
• Results are shown per selected field and per selected cell. 
• Available for mouse and bovine models.  

Optional Fluorescence

Fluorescence options are for Non-Clinical Research Use Only.

IDENT

The IVOS II with IDENT® fluorescence system model helps reduce counting errors and distinguish sperm from detritus. By using the complementary IDENT® Stain – a specialized, DNA-specific, fluorescent dye, sperm can be easily visible under fluorescent lighting. 

• Interactive illumination saves time identifying sperm heads. Select the IDENT® Fluorescence setup and set the Minimum Brightness so that sperm heads appear blue on the screen.  
• The IVOS’s strobed illumination dramatically reduces phototoxic effects on the IDENT® stained sperm by limiting exposure to UV light. 
• Fluorescent strobe minimizes bleaching of the stain and makes it possible to analyze fluorescently-stained, motile sperm (ideal for post-thaw motility studies). 

VIADENT

The optional VIADENT™ fluorescence module helps identify live membrane intact sperm cells vs dead sperm cells under standard and fluorescent illumination. The sperm cells are first identified and tracked under visible illumination as with standard analysis; then, fluorescence illumination is applied for one additional frame to identify non-viable sperm.  

• VIADENT™ staining process is quick and easy to use. Complete staining process within 2 minutes! 
• VIADENT™ stained samples allows the IVOS to analyze for viability under fluorescence illumination.

Resources

Technical Support & Service Plans

Hamilton Thorne’s CASACare™ service plans offer economical and comprehensive coverage against unexpected repair costs and downtime. Two levels of service plans – Basic and Plus – are available for our CASA systems. The tiered plans give customers the flexibility to choose the features that best suit their needs.