Anonymous semen donor recruitment without reimbursement in Canada.

A previous review of 22 studies from eight countries, conducted between 1980 and 2003, concluded that semen donors who are older, married or are fathers are less likely to be financially motivated. Despite the Assisted Human Reproduction Act coming into force in 2004, no data originating from Canada have been published on this topic. The objective of this study was to validate these findings in the Canadian population within the context of an anonymous semen donor programme in Canada. A survey of 301 donor applicants was conducted to collect demographic data including age, marital status, paternity status and occupation, in addition to information assessing donor eligibility and willingness to donate without reimbursement. Eligible candidates were screened to determine their acceptance or exclusion from the semen donor programme. The results showed that the relationships found between donor applicant demographics and their willingness to participate without reimbursement do not appear to be consistent with earlier published studies in various countries. Further screening resulted in a recruitment rate of less than 1%. Additional studies will be required to investigate the feasibility of altruistic semen donation programmes in Canada, and to determine the potential impact of these findings on Canadians who rely on donor gamete services to build their families.

Duration of sexual arousal predicts semen parameters for masturbatory ejaculates.

A man's semen parameters may vary considerably from one specimen to the next, partly due to variability in the conditions under which the specimens are produced. In the present study, the relationship between the duration of preejaculatory sexual arousal and the quality of semen produced by masturbation was investigated. Twenty-five regular semen donors aged 22-44 provided a total of 292 semen specimens (median 11 per donor) over a period of 4 months. Each specimen was produced after a minimum of 3 days of ejaculatory abstinence and measures included the time taken to produce the specimen, ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, and percent motility. Linear regression revealed that, controlling for donor identity, there was a significant (t=2.13, P<.05) positive relationship between the time taken to produce a specimen and sperm concentration. We conclude that the duration of preejaculatory sexual arousal is an important predictor of ejaculate quality for specimens produced by masturbation and that variation in the duration of preejaculatory arousal may contribute to within-male fluctuations in semen parameters over time.