U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Developmental Validation of the SPERM HY-LITER Kit for the Identification of Human Spermatozoa in Forensic Samples

NCJ Number
235781
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2011 Pages: 853-865
Author(s)
Kevin W.P. Miller, Ph.D.; Jennifer Old, Ph.D.; Brian R. Fischer, B.S.; Brett Schweers, Ph.D.; Simona Stipinaite, B.S.; Karl Reich, Ph.D.
Date Published
July 2011
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article describes the developmental validation of the SPERM HY-LITER kit, which contains a human sperm-specific mouse monoclonal antibody coupled to a fluorescent Alexa 488 dye.
Abstract
With sexual assault evidence, the visualization of spermatozoa confirms that ejaculation has occurred; however, microscopic examination of spermatozoa is a laborious process and can sometimes result in sperm cells being overlooked. The kit was tested using samples of human semen, saliva, blood, and urine, various animal semen extracts, sexual lubricants, and a commercially available spermicidal film. Postcoital vaginal swabs, degraded semen samples, and samples prepared with sample fixation techniques that deviated from the kit-provided protocol were also tested. In each case, the SPERM HY-LITER kit was demonstrated to bind only to human sperm cell heads. Limitations to this fluorescent staining procedure include nonspecific staining and increased background fluorescence with extreme heat fixation in some samples. (Published Abstract)