Twenty-four to ninety-six-hour storage of human spermatozoa in test-yolk buffer

The feasibility of a simple, inexpensive technique of short-term (24- to 96-hour) preservation of human spermatozoa in TEST-yolk buffer is demonstrated. Preservation of spermatozoa for up to 72 hours would require no addition of antibiotics. There is little loss of motility when semen is added to TEST-yolk buffer and kept in a standard refrigerator. Such semen would then be available for multiple inseminations during the periovulatory period. One objection to this procedure is that it is necessary to dilute semen 1:1 in TEST-yolk buffer, resulting in a 50% lower sperm density, and this may be objectionable when oligospermia is present. Results obtained in this study are in agreement with similar studies performed on domestic animals.