How Long Sperm Can Life In... Posted: 11-06-06 23:19pm
Anyone know how long sperms can life in
water? Like water in bath room or shower
water?
Thanks
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Kia
Supporter
Joined: 23 Jun 2004 Posts: 6594 Location: Planet Tampaxia,
Posted: 11-07-06 05:11am
Living sperm (spermatozoa) - like other
cells - require suitable conditions for
survival outside the body. The chemical
make-up of the fluid medium in which they
are suspended and the temperature at which
it is maintained are two key variables.
The technique of in vitro fertilisation
(ivf) requires that sperm are kept in
optimal condition for variable amounts of
time before they are placed in contact
with eggs for fertilisation. This can be
done either by freezing and then
re-thawing when required, or by incubation
at normal body temperature for up to
several hours in a suitable fluid medium
(liu, clarke, and baker, 1986). The fluid
has to be isotonic for the sperm and
contain nutrients and other materials for
the sperms’ survival. One of the
difficulties in keeping sperm alive in a
culture dish is that they produce oxygen
free radicals. These are highly reactive
molecules which at lower levels are
thought to control normal sperm function,
but which can become damaging at higher
levels (aitken, 1995; gomez and aitken,
1996).
Sperm would not survive for long in plain
water - although the seminal fluid would
provide some protection initially, the
water is very hypotonic to the sperm cells
and would soon cause them to swell and
disintegrate.
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jon15n
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 9
Posted: 11-15-06 02:38am
Heh, you sound a bit worried.
Sperm generally live for about 3
days--just long enough to consume the
nutrients in the semen.
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JJbrown8
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Posts: 23
Lol Posted: 03-24-07 19:51pm
Lol. Are you starting your own sperm bank
or something?
