Can sperm be cryopreserved and can embryos be frozen?

  With the continuous development of reproductive medicine technology, sperm banks for cryopreservation of sperm have been widely established and clinically used in countries around the world. This technology has now progressed to frozen embryos, which can be expected to develop into the establishment of embryo banks.  The world’s first “frozen embryo” baby was the world’s second female in vitro fertilization baby, born in a hospital in Calcutta, India, on October 30, 1978.  Her mother was a 33-year-old Indian woman who had been infertile for 15 years after marriage. Doctors removed her mature eggs and fertilized them with her husband’s sperm. The fertilized eggs were frozen for 53 days and then planted in the mother’s womb.  In 1983, at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, a medical team led by Professor Utu successfully implanted a frozen “IVF” embryo and gave birth to a 2.2 kg girl named Izzo. A girl named Izzo was born. Izzo’s mother, 33 years old, was unable to have children normally due to tubal obstruction.  Doctors removed nine eggs from her and fertilized them in a test tube. Three of the fertilized eggs were immediately transferred in utero, but without success. Two months later, several other fertilized eggs that had been frozen at -196-C were thawed and revived for in utero transfer, which was finally successful.  Frozen embryo implantation is a development and addition to IVF technology. Because IVF experiments may require multiple surgeries to collect eggs, this procedure of aspirating eggs through laparoscopic insertion into the abdomen can be painful for women. If multiple mature eggs can be aspirated in a single procedure, fertilized in vitro and then frozen, this increases the chances of successful IVF implantation.