HUMAN SPERM BANKING - SERVICES

A sperm bank or cryobank is a facility that collects and stores human sperm mainly from sperm donors, primarily for the purpose of achieving pregnancies through third party reproduction, notably by artificial insemination. The first two sperm banks were opened in Iowa City, Iowa, USA and Tokyo, Japan in 1965.

Storage

The sperm is stored in small vials or straws of holding between 0.4 and 1.0 ml and cryogenically preserved in liquid nitrogen tanks. There seems to be no limit on how long frozen sperm can be stored, and a baby has been conceived in the UK using sperm frozen for 21 years.Before freezing, sperm may be prepared so that it can be used for intra-cervical insemination

(ICI), intra-uterine insemination (IUI) or for IVF(or assisted reproduction) (ART).

Use

Sperm supplied by a sperm bank may be used where a woman's partner is infertile or where he carries genetic disease. Increasingly, donor sperm is used to achieve a pregnancy where a woman has no male partner, including a rising percentage of single or coupled lesbians. Sperm from a sperm donor may also be used in surrogacy arrangements and for creating embryos for embryo donation. Donor sperm may be supplied by the sperm bank directly to the recipient to enable a woman to perform her own artificial insemination or, more usually, to a woman through a registered medical practitioner who will perform an appropriate method of insemination or IVF treatment using the donor sperm in order for the woman to become pregnant.

Sperm banks may supply other sperm banks or a fertility clinic with donor sperm to be used for achieving pregnancies. Sperm banks may also supply sperm for research or educational purposes.

In countries where sperm banks are allowed to operate, the sperm donor will not usually become the legal father of the children he produces as the result of the use of the sperm he donates, but he will be the 'biological father' of such children. In cases of surrogacy involving embryo donation, a form of 'gestational surrogacy', the 'commissioning mother' or the 'commissioning parents' will not be biologically related to the child and may need to go through an adoption procedure.

As with other forms of third party reproduction, the use of donor sperm from a sperm bank gives rise to a number of moral, legal and ethical issues.

Men may also use a sperm bank to store their own sperm for future use particularly where they anticipate traveling to a war zone or having to undergo chemotherapy which might damage the testes.

Selection

Sperm banks make information available about the sperm donors whose donations they hold in the sperm bank to enable customers to select the donor whose sperm they wish to use. This information is often available by way of an on-line catalog. A sperm bank will also usually have facilities to help customers to make their choice and they will be able to advise on the suitablitity of donors for individual donors and their partners.

Where the recipient woman has a male partner she may prefer to use sperm from a donor whose physical features are similar to those of her partner. In many cases, the choice of a donor with the correct blood group will be paramount with particular considerations involving the use of sperm from donors with negative blood groups. If a surrogate is to be used, such as where the customer is not intending to carry the child, considerations about her blood group etc will also need to be taken into account. Information made available by a sperm bank will usually include the race, height, weight, blood group, health and eye colour of the donor. Sometimes information about his age, family history and educational achievements will also be given. Some sperm banks make a 'personal profile' of a donor available and occasionally more information may be purchased about a donor, either in the form of a DVD or in written form. Catalogs usually state whether samples supplied in respect of a particular donor have already given rise to pregnancies, but this is not necessarily a guide to the fecundity of the sperm since a donor may not have been in the program long enough for any pregnancies to have been recorded.

The catalog will also state whether samples of sperm are available for ICI, IUI and/or ART use. IUI and ART are 'washed' samples, ART samples being those prepared exclusively for IVF use and containing a concentration of highly motile sperm which are fewer in number than those in other vials.

Sperm banks may also allow people to choose the sex of their child or to choose what characteristics they want their child or children to inherit. This is an example of selective breeding.

Regulation

In the United States sperm banks are regulated by the FDA with new guidelines in effect May 25, 2005. There are also

regulation in different states including New York and California. In the EU the sperm banks are regulated by the EU Tissue Directive in effect April 7, 2006.

Selection and screening of donors

Using anonymous donor sperm or sperm from a known or identifiable sperm donor through a sperm bank is a safe and reliable method of achieving a pregnancy. A sperm bank takes a number of steps to ensure the health and quality of the sperm which it supplies and it will inform customers of the checks which it undertakes, providing relevant information about individual donors. A sperm bank recruits donors via advertising, often in colleges and in local newspapers, and also via the internet. A donor must be a fit healthy male who is willing to undergo frequent and rigorous testing and who is willing to donate his sperm so that it can be used to impregnate women who are unrelated to, and unknown by, him. The donor will produce the sperm at the sperm bank and the sperm will be checked to ensure fecundity and to ensure that motile sperm survive the freezing process. In addition, donors are tested and constantly re-tested and monitored and their identity is required to be proven. All sperm is frozen and stored for a minimum of 6 months before being released for sale to ensure that the donor is healthy and that his sperm will not pass any sexual or other transmissable diseases to the recipient. Donors are subject to tests for diseases such as human immunoviruses HIV (HIV-1 and HIV-2), human T-cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV-1 and HTLV-2), syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), cystic fibrosis, Karyotyping , and transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Karyotyping is not a requirement in the U.S. but some sperm banks choose to test donors as an extra service to the customer.A sperm donor may also be subject to genetic testing and a sperm bank will obtain medical records of the sperm donor and his family, often for several generations. A sperm sample is usually tested micro-biologically at the sperm bank before it is prepared for freezing and subsequent use. A sperm donor's blood group is also tested to ensure compatibility with the recipient.

* Artificial insemination

* Genetic counseling

* Infertility

* Spermatozoon

* Surrogacy

* Commercial surrogacy

* Sperm donation

* Sperm donor

* Donor conceived people

* Gestational carrier

* Third party reproduction

* Assisted reproduction

Rotunda Sperm Bank is one of India's largest human sperm banks and is at par with any comparable International bank. It provides the most up-to-date genetic and infectious disease-tested donor semen for infertile couples, along with freezing and storage services for patients who desire to have their own semen specimens preserved for future use.

The following services are available:

• Semen banking with programs for both long-term and short-term storage

• Standard and pre-processed cryopreservation

• Semen analysis - Cryosurvival - Concentration for oligozoospermia

• Sperm processing procedures including retrograde ejaculates for IUI

• Evaluation and Treatment of Infertile Males and Females • Standard and pre-processed anonymous donor semen • Artificial insemination

HUMAN SPERM BANKING - DONOR PROGRAM

Introducing Rotunda Sperm Bank's Directed Donor Program Are your patients interested in using a donor semen sample but are uncertain how to proceed? What paperwork / documents / contacts are required? What screening tests are necessary? Is storage quarantine period mandatory? How many specimens are recommended? Standard or Pre-washed processing? Etc.?, Etc.?

Let Rotunda Sperm Bank take the guess-work out of Directed Donor processing. Rotunda Sperm Bank's Directed Donor Program is designed to assist professionals and patients with all aspects of Directed Donor Testing and Processing.

"There are many ways for a man to lose his fertility but the heartache of a childless future is always the same. If your future fertility is threatened or at risk, consult your physician about sperm banking or call us."

Are your patients at risk of losing their fertility due to surgery, cancer therapy, or vasectomy?

Consider Long-Term Sperm Cryopreservation

• Reduces Physical Liability • Enhances Patient Psychological Status • Convenient and Flexible Laboratory Appointments • CryoShipTM overnight Service from any location. Specimen

produced at • patient's home or hospital room. Contact us for CryoShipTM

information

Cancer Therapy Chemotherpy - Radiation Therapy - Diathermy Surgery Testicular - Pituitary - Prostate High Risk Occupations

Environmental Pollutants - Radiation Environments - Military Service - Athletics Vasectomy Oligozoospermia TOGETHER, WE'LL KEEP YOUR HOPES ALIVE Do your patients have irregular cycles? Do their partners have low sperm parameters? Do they travel often and miss their partner's ovulation? Consider Short-term Cryopreservation Patients deposit a reserve of semen samples for future use

• Convenient and flexible laboratory appointments • Processing for Pre-washed sperm samples available • CryoShipTM overnight service from any location. Specimen

produced at patient's home or hospital room. Contact us for CryoShipTM information.

HUMAN SPERM BANKING - DONOR PROFILE

• How to become a Donor? • Donor Information • Donor Characteristics • Donor List

How to become a donor?

Our donors are normal, physically and mentally healthy men from a broad cross section of society. Most of them are professionals or students from institutions of higher education. Each donor meets rigorous selection criteria and undergoes a thorough examination prior

to acceptance. The donors receive only a small remuneration, and it is our belief that they are genuine in their desire to help others.

Donors are fully informed concerning the activities of Rotunda and affirm they have not had homosexual intercourse, do not belong to any group at risk for AIDS, and furthermore, that they are willing to donate semen to be used by childless couples for artificial insemination. Donors renounce all paternal rights and responsibilities. The donors are given explicit assurance of anonymity.

Prior to approval, donors are tested for antibodies against HIV-I and -II, VDRL, as well as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis C (HCV-Ab) and bloodgroup (AB0) is registered. All donors are screened for Thalessemia. Complete anamnesis (specifically regarding possible inheritable conditions) is recorded and the data are entered into a registry of donors. Every donor is examined and given final approval by a medical doctor.

Once every three months, donors are retested for the sexually transmissible diseases: HIV-I and -II.

Donor characteristics on file includes: donor number, build, height, weight, peculiarities of appearance (e.g. complexion etc.) psychological profile, age, education/occupation, blood type, and negative results on tests for HBsAg, HCV-Ab, syphilis, HIV-I and -II, and Thalessemia.

Semen stays frozen in quarantine for at least three months, after which time the donor must be HIV-negative before the semen can be released.

Donor Information

A Step by step description of how we select donors for our program: Have you ever wondered how a semen bank selects its donors. At the Rotunda Sperm Bank, we use a stringent screening process and currently accept into our donor program fewer than 5% of the men who apply.

Here's why:

The Phone Call... The process begins with a phone call to our donor coordinator. She asks potential donors a few basic questions regarding their height, weight, age and educational background. She also asks whether he or his parents are adopted?

These questions are asked for the following reasons:

1. We have a minimum height requirement because the majority of our clients request donors between 5'6" and 6'2". 2. The weight of each donor must be in approximate proportion to his height. Excessive overweight or underweight donors are not accepted into our program due to potential medical problems associated with abnormal weight. 3. Donors must be between the of 19 and 34. While a man's fertility does not automatically decline after the age of 34, men under that age are more likely to consistently produce superior quality of sperm necessary for successful freezing and thawing. 4. The Rotunda Sperm Bank requires that donors attend, or have graduated from, a major 4-year university. The majority of our donors come from the University of Bombay. 5. We accept only those men who can provide the medical and genetic information on themselves and their family members required by the Rotunda Sperm Bank.

The Screening Process... If a potential donor meets the above listed requirements, our donor coordinator will ask him to complete the donor application form and provide a semen sample. The semen sample will then be analyzed to determine whether the donor's semen meets our standards.

The majority of potential donors are disqualified due to inadequate semen specimens. Because a small portion of the sperm is lost in the freezing and thawing process, a donor's fresh semen samples must meet certain minimum requirement. In order to qualify for our donor program, 70% of his sperm must be motile, 60% must have normal morphology , and the sperm count must be at least 60 million sperm per cc.

A donor applicant is disqualified from participation in the donor program if there is a family history which indicates that the man's offspring may be at increased risk for a birth defect or known genetic condition. If there is a personal history of alcohol or other drug abuse, the applicant will not be accepted as a donor. If the medical director is satisfied that the man is a good candidate for our donor program, he is given a number and he is admitted into our program.

Donor Characteristics

Blood Group of Donor - Build - Height - Complexion - Occupation - Date of Collection of Sample - Donor Screened for - HIV/VDRL/HbsAg/HCV (Negative) & Thalessemia.

Pre-Freeze Parameters: Type of Sample - Native Ejaculate/Percoll Processed Volume - Count - Motility - Grade -

Post-Thaw Parameters: Volume - Count - Motility - Grade -

Donor list

We have 18 selected donors in our corps. Only medical institutions can acquire the donor list.

Please identify yourselves by writing to us either by post, fax or e-mail.

IUI IVF ICSI DONOR EGG IVF, SURROGACY, SPERM BANKING http://www.iwannagetpregnant.com iwannagetpregnant9@gmail.com Rotunda-The Center for Human Reproduction 672, Kalpak-Gulistan,Perry Cross Road, Near Otters Club,Bandra(W), Mumbai - 400 050,India. Telephone : +91 22 2655 2000 / 2640 5000 Fax : +91 22 2655 3000