Use of Glass-Forming Water–Salt Systems for Preparing Human Sperm to Hypothermic Semen Preservation

Abstract

A protectant for hypothermic preservation of human sperm based on glass-forming water–salt systems of vital metals (magnesium, zinc, and calcium) was developed for the first time. The method of sperm preservation without preliminary washing of seminal plasma is proposed, which retains the sperm viability and sperm motility parameters comparable to the values of native sperm. The proposed protectant and method of preparing human sperm for hypothermic storage at the first stage help to slow down the metabolism as evidenced by the complete loss of sperm motility and maintenance of the nearly 100% viability of the studied sperm. Once the protectant was removed, sperm motility is restored up to 90–100% compared to the indices of native sperm.