睾丸精子冷冻的研究进展

Advances in researches on cryopreservation of testicular spermatozoa

全球约20%的育龄夫妇受不孕症影响,其中无精子症占男性不育病因的10%~15%,使用新鲜或冻融的睾丸精子行ICSI已成为无精子症患者实现生育梦想的主要方法。然而睾丸精子由于未在附睾中进一步成熟,其抗冷冻能力明显不如射精精子,使用常规冷冻方法冻融后精子活率差、回收率低。自首次使用冻融睾丸精子获得1例活产以来,睾丸精子冷冻方法经历不断改进,使得冻融后的精子已经具有较高的活率和回收率。本文将综述近20年关于睾丸精子冷冻的方法,为辅助生殖技术的发展提供理论基础。

Infertility affects approximately 20% of childbearing couples in the world, and azoospermia accounts for 10-15% of the causes of male infertility. The use of fresh or frozen-thawed testicular sperm for intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) has become a main method for azoospermia patients to realize their dream for reproduction. However, testicular spermatozoa are not further matured in the epididymis and therefore have an obviously lower anti-freezing ability than ejaculated sperm. The viability and retrieval rate of sperm are low after freeze-thaw with the conventional method of cryopreservation. Since the first live birth with frozen-thawed testicular spermatozoa, continuous improvement has been made in the methods of testicular sperm cryopreservation and increased the viability and retrieval rate of spermatozoa after freeze-thaw. This review focuses on the methods of testicular sperm cryopreservation in the past 20 years to provide a theoretical basis for the development of assisted reproductive technology.