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51 - Cryopreservation of Male Gametes

from PART III - ASSISTED REPRODUCTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

By
Amjad Hossain  and
Manubai Nagamani
Edited by
Botros R. M. B. Rizk ,
Juan A. Garcia-Velasco ,
Hassan N. Sallam  and
Antonis Makrigiannakis
Botros R. M. B. Rizk
Affiliation:
University of South Alabama
Juan A. Garcia-Velasco
Affiliation:
Rey Juan Carlos University School of Medicine,
Hassan N. Sallam
Affiliation:
University of Alexandria School of Medicine
Antonis Makrigiannakis
Affiliation:
University of Crete
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Cryopreservation of male gametes is an important aspect of human fertility preservation. With the advancement in assisted reproductive technology, indication for sperm cryopreservation is expanding. The exciting developments that have occurred over the years in this field have resulted in frozen sperm being as good as fresh sperm in fertilizing oocytes. Our objective is to provide the readers with the latest available information on cryopreservation of human spermatozoa including the sperm retrieved by epididymal aspiration and testicular biopsies. Conceptual, methodological, as well as regulatory information are provided so that the readers can obtain comprehensive knowledge about human sperm cryopreservation. Since American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) is the leading organization worldwide that is professionally involved with the assisted reproduction, ASRM's stance on ethical, professional, and patient safety issues related to cryopreservation of human sperm and their utilization are discussed. The techniques, methodology, and procedures described in this chapter are highly relevant to the current practice of assisted human reproduction and sperm banking.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

It has been known for more than a decade that the fertilization capacity of mammalian spermatozoa can be preserved by cryopreservation technology (1, 2). It was an Italian physician who first proposed in 1866 the concept of human sperm bank to store semen specimens (1, 3, 4). The first successful human pregnancy by cryopreserved spermatozoa was reported by Bunge et al. in 1954 (1).

Keywords

assisted reproductive technologycryoprotectantscryotankhuman sperm cryopreservationsperm donorssperm banking
Type
Chapter
Information
Infertility and Assisted Reproduction , pp. 466 - 477
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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