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A new media without animal component for sperm cryopreservation: motility and various attributes affecting paternal contribution of sperm

  • Gamete Biology
  • Published:
Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Our aim was the development of a safe sperm cryopreservation New Media (NM), composed of consistent and reproducible components devoid of any animal origin, and evaluation of NM in terms of its effect on sperm structure and function as compared to regularly used yolk media (TYM) (Irvine Scientific).

Methods

We evaluated patient semen samples and cryopreserved them in duplicates in either NM or TYM. The samples were cryopreserved for either a short term of 1 week or long term of 1 month prior to thawing. The parameters investigated include sperm motility via computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA), sperm concentration, and sperm biomarkers that promote paternal contribution of spermatozoa to fertilization including hyaluronic acid binding, chromatin maturity, apoptotic markers, cytoplasmic retention, and sperm DNA integrity.

Results

As compared to TYM, NM was equally capable of sperm cryopreservation with both short-term and long-term storage in media, and after freeze-thaw and gradient processing of sperm. HA binding of sperm was comparable post thaw in both NM and yolk media. There are also no differences observed between the samples cryopreserved in NM or TYM in terms of their aniline blue staining, CK immunocytochemistry, caspase 3 immunostaining, or DNA nick translation.

Conclusions

NM has the advantage of being xeno-free, yet in preservation of sperm motility and other sperm attributes, the NM is as effective as the TYM.

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Acknowledgements

Funding support from VitroLife AB, Göteborg, Sweden

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sperm Physiology Laboratory, Yale University, 330 Cedar St, New Haven, CT, 06519, USA

    Akansha Tiwari, William Murk & Gabor Huszar

  2. Medisu Hospital IVF Laboratory, Antalya, Turkey

    Merih Tekcan

  3. School of Medicine, Akdeniz University, 07070, Campus, Antalya, Turkey

    Leyla Sati

  4. Yale University, 150 Sargent Dr, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Jill Stronk

Authors
  1. Akansha Tiwari
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  2. Merih Tekcan
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  3. Leyla Sati
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  4. William Murk
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  6. Gabor Huszar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabor Huszar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Funding for the research was provided by VitroLife for evaluation of New Media.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Yale University IRB.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The patient sperm samples were de-identified prior to the initiation of study.

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Tiwari, A., Tekcan, M., Sati, L. et al. A new media without animal component for sperm cryopreservation: motility and various attributes affecting paternal contribution of sperm. J Assist Reprod Genet 34, 647–657 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0888-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-017-0888-4

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