How Long Can Frozen Sperm Be Stored? | Science - The Guardian

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Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigationThe science behind the newsScience This article is more than 21 years oldHow long can frozen sperm be stored?This article is more than 21 years oldDavid AdamThu 27 May 2004 12.21 BSTShare

The biggest problem is someone unplugging the freezer. Sperm, which does little at -196C, could be cryopreserved for centuries and still safely thawed to fertilise an egg, say experts. Little surprise then, that a man was able to father a child using the 10cc he donated 21 years ago, before having radiotherapy to treat testicular cancer as a teenager. The birth was announced this week in the journal Human Reproduction.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority prohibits clinics keeping sperm past the donor's 55th birthday, but nature seems to set no limit. "I don't know of anyone who's demonstrated a biological issue," says Alan Pacey, an andrologist (specialist in men's health) at Sheffield University. "There's very little happening at the cellular level. There's no enzymatic activity, no DNA transcription and everything metabolic is switched off." Mice sperm frozen in the early 1970s and periodically thawed still produce healthy offspring.

Chris Barratt, a reproductive medicine expert at Birmingham University, says that when IVF techniques began there was concern that frozen sperm could accumulate DNA damage from background radiation. But modern measurements suggest that the risk is negligible.

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