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Chapter 12 - Sperm Cryopreservation

from Part III - Laboratory Handling of Retrieved Sperm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2021

By
Rakesh Sharma ,
Kruyanshi Master  and
Ashok Agarwal
Edited by
Ashok Agarwal ,
Ahmad Majzoub  and
Sandro C. Esteves
Ashok Agarwal
Affiliation:
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
Ahmad Majzoub
Affiliation:
Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
Sandro C. Esteves
Affiliation:
Andrology & Human Reproduction Clinic, Sao Paulo, Brazil
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Summary

Human sperm cryopreservation is a highly desirable technique for preserving fertility potential and future use in couples desiring to have a biological child. Slow cryopreservation of sperm has been the mainstay technique. The drawback of this technique is the inability to freeze extremely small numbers of sperm as in the case of surgical retrieval of testicular sperm. These sperm are extremely few in number and it is difficult to retrieve motile, viable sperm post-thaw. In the past decade, sperm vitrification has been introduced along with both biological and non-biological carriers to freeze extremely low numbers of sperm. Vitrification also allows the ability to freeze single spermatozoa. These techniques are in many ways more efficient and better than the older techniques. This chapter aims to provide a detailed introduction to various approaches used for preserving spermatozoa. It also discusses indications of sperm cryopreservation based on semen quality and summarizes the advantages and shortcomings of these techniques.

Keywords

spermsperm cryopreservationslow freezingvitrificationsperm storagesperm motilityDNA integrity
Type
Chapter
Information
Manual of Sperm Retrieval and Preparation in Human Assisted Reproduction , pp. 99 - 116
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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