Ultrastructural categorization of human sperm cryopreserved in glycerol and in TESTCY

Abstract
The motility of human sperm after thawing and the ultrastructural intgegrity of their acrosomal region was evaluated in 5 semen donors after utilizing 2 cyproprotective extenders, glycerol and TESTCY. Sperm motility in the fresh control semen fraction (65.5% .+-. 6.1) was significantly (P < 0.05) better than the immediate post-thaw motility in both cyprotected fractions (38.8% .+-. 2.0 for glycerol and 31.0% .+-. 2.9 for TESTCY), and there was no significant difference between the 2 cyprotective treatments. The overall % of normal intact sperm heads was significantly less than in controls (P < 0.05) following cypropreservation in glycerol, but values for sperm stored in TESTCY were not significantly different from controls or glycerol. When expressed as % change from controls values, sperm preservation was significantly better (P < 0.05) in TESTCY than in glycerol. TESTCY is considered a better cryoprotective agent for human sperm.