Cryopreservation of human testicular diploid germ cell suspensions

• Published in: Andrologia Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 366 - 372
• Main Authors: Sá, R., Cremades, N., Malheiro, I., Sousa, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2012; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Azoospermia - pathology; Azoospermia - therapy; Biopsy; Cell Separation; Cell Survival; Cryopreservation; Cryopreservation - methods; Diploidy; fertility preservation; Freezing; human testicular cell suspensions; Humans; Male; Oligospermia - pathology; Oligospermia - therapy; Spermatozoa - cytology; Testis - cytology; Vitrification
• ISSN: 0303-4569; 1439-0272
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0272.2012.01290.x

Summary For patients with threatened fertility, preservation of it is a major concern. Although promising results have been obtained in animal models using testicular germ cell suspensions, in humans, it is crucial to first develop an efficient method of cryopreservation to be able to apply to transplantation. Thus, four reliable and available cryopreservation techniques in any fertility centre were tested to cryopreserve an enriched fraction of diploid germ cells isolated from human testicular biopsies. The protocols were evaluated based on cell viability, and the results showed significant differences between the four methods. The semen and tissue cryopreservation methods appeared to be inadequate for diploid germ cell suspensions, and programmed slow freezing gave significantly lower results than open pulled straw vitrification; the latter was found to be the protocol that best preserved cell viability. The vitrification of isolated human diploid germ cells is innovative and constitutes valuable information for cryopreservation in cases of transplants or in vitro maturation.