Frozen testicular tissue can still make sperm 20 years later, according to scientists who say it can help young cancer patients to later have children.
Male testis tissue that is cryopreserved can be reimplanted after more than 20 years and will go on to make viable sperm, according to a new study in rodents in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Eoin Whelan of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
But the work together with colleagues that was published on May 10 found that the long delay comes with a cost in reduced fertility compared to tissue that is only briefly frozen.
