At What Temperature Should Semen Samples Be Kept During Transportation To The Laboratory? (2023)

FAQs

How do you transport a sperm sample to a lab? ›

Deliver the specimen to the laboratory within one hour of collection. Transport the container in a clothing pocket or other place close to your body to maintain body temperature. Protect it from extreme temperatures and direct light. Semen specimens may also be collected on-site at the hospital laboratory.

Semen specimens are most often transported either on dry ice, at a temperature of about -80ºC, or in cryogenic storage tanks containing liquid nitrogen (-196ºC). Other factors such as temperature fluctuations during sample transportation and handling may negatively affect the quality of thawed sperm.

Your semen sample should be kept as close to body temperature as possible. The sperm motility value will be inaccurately low if the semen sample gets too cold or if it gets too hot. Keep your specimen container upright in a plastic bag, with the lid securely tightened.

Sperm needs to be stored at minus 196 degrees centigrade. It can be possible to collect sperm at home in preparation for freezing. There are services that send you a sperm collection and storage kit.

Keep the semen close to body temperature. A good way to do this is by keeping the semen container in an inside pocket. Avoid getting the semen hot or cold. Take the semen sample to the lab or clinic within 1 hour after you collect it.

All you have to do is bring his frozen sperm sample with you in a special dry shipper. If this is something you don't want to do yourself, you can simply get in touch with a courier company that will do this for you.

Keep the specimen container upright in a plastic bag, with the lid securely tightened. Keep the semen sample close to the body or at a temperature 350 C - 370 C while transporting in to the lab. Deliver the semen sample to the lab within 30 minutes of collection.

Some spermatozoa could still penetrate after 17 days. Room-temperature-stored spermatozoa were still able to fertilize human oocytes 5 days after preparation. With storage in a refrigerator motility declined rapidly, and few sperm were motile after 14 days.

Cryopreserved specimens, when properly stored, will remain viable for an indefinite amount of time. Pregnancies have been reported for cases in which the sperm has been stored for 20 years prior to thawing and insemination.

Your healthcare provider will place the samples in a freezer set to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius). This step prevents your sperm from dying due to an extreme drop in temperature.

Why is temperature important for sperm? ›

Each 1°C increase in testicular temperature leads to a 14% decrease in spermatogenesis (15). High ambient temperature drastically reduces sperm motility through decreased mitochondrial activity and ATP synthesis (16). Testicular tissue heated stress leads to apoptosis via mitochondrial pathways or DNA damage (17).

The Activation Hypothesis posits that the storage of sperm at a lowered temperature ensures that they undergo 'thermal shock' during ejaculation into the higher temperatures of the female, which increases their motility and hence the probability of a successful insemination (Gallup et al., 2009).

Men's scrotal temperature usually fluctuates at 43°C, which is the ideal level for sperm to live and develop. If ejaculated into warm water with the same temperature, sperm can live for several minutes. In case of ejaculating into hot or boiling water, the sperm will die immediately.

Outside the body, sperm can live for about 15 to 30 minutes in the right conditions. In a hot tub or bath, sperm can only live for a few seconds to a few minutes. If sperm is frozen under the right conditions, it could live indefinitely.

Some spermatozoa could still penetrate after 17 days. Room-temperature-stored spermatozoa were still able to fertilize human oocytes 5 days after preparation. With storage in a refrigerator motility declined rapidly, and few sperm were motile after 14 days.