Assessment of sperm cryodamage and strategies to improve outcome

Sperm cryopreservation still represents a valuable clinical aid in the management of infertility. Its current principal indications include (1) donor sperm insemination; (2) freezing before cancer therapy to maintain reproductive capacity; (3) patient's convenience; and (4) because of the outst...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular and cellular endocrinology 2000-11, Vol.169 (1), p.3-10
Main Authors: Oehninger, Sergio, Duru, Namik Kemal, Srisombut, Chartchai, Morshedi, Mahmood
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer-assisted freezing
Cryopreservation - standards
Humans
Male
Membrane integrity
Motility
Pharmaceutic Aids - pharmacology
Reproductive Techniques
Semen Preservation - methods
Semen Preservation - standards
Sperm cryopreservation
Sperm function
Spermatozoa - cytology
Spermatozoa - drug effects
Vapor freezing
Viability
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Summary:Sperm cryopreservation still represents a valuable clinical aid in the management of infertility. Its current principal indications include (1) donor sperm insemination; (2) freezing before cancer therapy to maintain reproductive capacity; (3) patient's convenience; and (4) because of the outstanding success with ICSI, even patients with different degrees of oligo-asthenoteratozoospermia can now be offered the use of frozen/thawed sperm for oocyte micromanipulation. Although sperm cryopreservation/thawing and results of insemination and IVF have been consistently good using donor semen, results of infertile men (with or without various degrees of oligoasthenoteratozoospermia) have yielded remarkably lower rates of survival and pregnancy. Freezing/thawing techniques have not been subjected to major changes in the last years, Furthermore, the exact nature of sperm cryodamage still remains to be elucidated. Various aspects of sperm freezing are revisited here (1) development of new technical approaches for cryopreservation; (2) analysis of the stimulatory effect of putative cryoprotectant additives; (3) the use of intrauterine insemination-ready processed samples; and (4) selection and optimization of end-points for analysis of cryodamage. It is expected that advances in such areas will improve significantly the cryopreservation/thawing outcome particularly as related to semen samples of subfertile men.
ISSN:0303-7207
1872-8057
DOI:10.1016/S0303-7207(00)00343-9