This is where the semen analyses and other tests of andrologist type to patients are performed.

The first and most simple test to perform in the male is a seminal study, or semen sample. The evaluation analysis is based on the criteria of normality established by the WHO (World Health Organization) and the strict criteria of morphologies of Kruger. With this information we can rule out, or not, the male factor as a possible cause of infertility in couples.

The main techniques that are performed in the laboratory of andrology are:

- Diagnostic Capacitation, either for inseminations (spouse and donor) or in vitro fertilization. Capacitate involves inducing the sperm to undergo the acrosome reaction that will allow its merger with the membrane of the oocyte, and so its fertilization takes place.

- Recovery of sperm aspiration from epididymis and testicular biopsies.

- Freezing of seminal samples from patients who are going to submit to chemotherapy treatments.

Assisted reproductive techniques require an improvement in vitro sperm for both the diagnosis and the clinic. This improvement involves the removal of seminal plasma and selecting the most suitable sperm. To achieve that we used different techniques for improving in vitro sperm, also known as capacitation techniques. The most common are: the density gradients and the "swim up".

The Bank of semen:

The Bank of semen, in a centre for Assisted Reproduction, has a primary role in extreme situations, such as a chemotherapy treatment that has the seminal quality seriously diminished.

We freeze a semen sample before the treatment of in vitro fertilization. Besides, if there was any problem to collect the sample that day or the patient is absent the oocytes obtained will not be lost.

Spinal cord injured patients can freeze samples obtained by electro or vibrostimulatión.

We can freeze samples from testicular biopsy or epididymis for later use. The sample is frozen in liquid nitrogen (-196 º C) and cryoprotectant that ensures the viability of the sperm after thawing.