Fertilizing Capacity of Frozen Human Spermatozoa

Abstract

MONTEGAZZA¹ observed the survival of human spermatozoa after exposure to a temperature of − 15° C. He speculated that in the future, frozen semen might be used in animal husbandry and even proposed that a man dying on the battlefield might, by his wife, beget a legitimate child after his own death. Other workers² have reported the survival of human spermatozoa; however, it was not until Polge, Smith and Parkes³ reported increased survival of frozen human spermatozoa employing glycerol as a protective agent that practical application seemed possible. Work in our laboratory⁴, recently, indicated that treatment with 10 per cent glycerol prior to freezing with ‘dry ice’ produced an average 67 per cent survival of human spermatozoa obtained from five young healthy men.