Safety of Cryopreservation for SARS-CoV-2 Samples.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, cryopreservation techniques were employed by Assistance Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics for precautionary purposes, but without conducting a semen COVID-19 screening due to its unavailability. Therefore, our objective was to investigate whether we could identify SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in the plasmatic fraction and spermatozoa before and after cryopreservation. We performed viral RNA extraction from both fractions and utilized RT-PCR to detect the nuclear N gene, the Spike S gene and the RdRp gene. Interestingly, we were unable to detect the N and S gene in eithr the plasmatic or spermatozoa fraction. However, RdRp detection was succseful in 5 out of 20 patients before cryopreservation (Figure 7 ). Notably, when the same samples were tested after undergoing slow conventional cryopreservation and vitrification, the RdRp viral gene was no longer detectable. This suggest that both freezing procedures are safe for storing samples collected from individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2.