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Colenso, Maria. "How Sperm Banks Work." 12 March 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://health.howstuffworks.com/sperm-bank.htm> 18 July 2008.

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Sperm Cryopreservation and Storage

Tissues and cells, including sperm, may be frozen and stored through a process called cryopreservation. Semen samples are prepared first with a solution that minimizes damage during the freezing and thawing processes. The samples are then placed in vials, sealed and slowly frozen in liquid nitrogen vapor. Frozen samples are stored in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit) [source: Fairfax Cryobank].

Barbara Laing/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Judith Hart, age three, was posthumously conceived with donated sperm three months after her father died.

Sperm's susceptibility to damage during the freezing and thawing processes varies from donor to donor and between samples. After thawing, samples are tested. They must meet certain quality standards: Post thaw samples must contain a minimum of 20 million motile sperm per milliliter, with no less than 25 percent motility [source: American Society for Reproductive Medicine].

Previously frozen sperm doesn't live as long inside a woman's uterus as fresh sperm. Thawed sperm lives up to 24 hours while fresh sperm can live for three to five days. The risk of birth defects from conceptions with donated sperm is reportedly no different than the rate with natural conception: 2 to 4 percent [source: American Society for Reproductive Medicine].

Frozen semen seems to have no expiration date as long as the storage environment is well maintained and stable. Specimens may be stored until an individual decides to withdraw sperm for assisted reproductive treatments or the donor decides to end his storage contract. In 2005, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) published a report that several women had normal pregnancies and births from semen stored for 28 years [source: Xytex].

Contact Registries

In recent years, donor tracking has become more easily available -- regardless of whether a donor originally wished to remain anonymous.

Online registries are gaining media attention. The registries are intended to connect children conceived with the same sperm donor as well as mothers who used the same donor. One of the most popular and successful registries is the Donor Sibling Registry, a Web site created in 2000. Most of the searching and connected is done by browsing by sperm bank name or with donor ID numbers -- numbers assigned by the sperm bank to each donor and shared with the donor and recipient. Donors who were anonymous but now seek contact with their offspring are also welcomed on the site.

In 2007, the Donor Sibling Registry had more than 88,800 unique visitors from more than 140 countries. To date, there are more than 18,000 registrants (including both adults and children), with more than 4,600 successful matches (half-siblings and/or donors).

To learn more about men, sex and in vitro fertilization, look over our list of links on the following page.

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