The CryoBioSystem® High Security straws are the first system designed specifically for use with human sperm and are the only straws approved by the FDA for human sperm storage, with a variety of features not found in vials or other straws. First, CBS straws are unbreakable. Shatterproof, even. You can bend one immediately after removing it from the minus 196 C. confines of a liquid nitrogen tank, thanks to a soft-but-durable, non-toxic plastic.
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CBS straws can be welded on both ends to eliminate potential contamination or tampering. When we say ‘welded’ we mean it: these welds are guaranteed to be leakproof at pressures of up to 150kg/cm2. A special filling nozzle means the contents being loaded into the straw never come into contact with the outside of the straw. Identifying material like tags and bar coding can be placed inside the straw, snug in their own sealed compartments. The welds keep external tags from slipping off the straw. As you can imagine, these advances greatly reduce the risk of misidentifying the contents of the straw. The exterior of the straw can also be sterilized — with alcohol, usually — after thawing and before opening. Straws can also be sterilized before insertion into liquid nitrogen.
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These features make it a lot simpler to maintain perfect conditions for healthy sperm during storage, shipping and clinic use. One profound example of the biosafety of CBS straws can be found at a containment level 4 laboratory in France, where they are used for cryopreservation of Ebola samples. Best practices. To learn more about best practices — medical and legal — in dealing with the collection, cryopreservation, storage, thawing and use of human spermatozoa, you might want to check out this informative paper by David Mortimer: Symposium: Cryopreservation and assisted human conception. RBM Online - Vol 9. No 2. 2004 134-151. Article 1256. The article has an in depth comparison of vials and CBS straws.
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