PART I - THE PRACTICE OF SPERM DONATION TODAY - SEMEN CHARACTERISTICSAND FERTILITY TESTS REQUIRED FOR STORAGE OF SPERMATOZOA

This review addresses critical issues in the selection of semen donors who are very fertile. Traditional semen parameters have been employed and are still used to assess pre- and post-freeze samples in order to discriminate between donors of high and low fecundity. The most predi ctive factor is the number of motile spermatozoa per straw and the num ber of motile spermatozoa inseminated. Nevertheless, no absolute stand ards for fertile samples can be derived from the basic semen examinati on. The employment of sperm function testing such as the hamster penet ration test or computerized motility analysis has been shown to enhanc e moderately the prediction of fertility of semen samples however, fur ther studies are necessary to determine if these improvements are clin ically useful. The need to determine with a high degree of confidence the fecundity of donor semen is enhanced by limitations in the number of pregnancies allowed per donor. The recent publication of league tab les in the UK has put extra pressure in clinics to use highly fertile donors. Spermatozoa are also cryostored for patients prior to cancer t reatment. With the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection eve ry sample produced by cancer patients can be stored irrespective of th e quality. However, several factors need to be elucidated to maximize the fertility of those patients. The establishment of regional centres in Europe will be a good starting point to deal with many of the issu es raised in this review.