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.