Competence of vitrified porcine spermatozoa to produce zygotes and early embryo development

C. ARRAZTOA; C. BACA CASTEX; M. CALDEVILLA; S. MORADO; M. GAMBAROTTA; P. CETICA; D. NEILD

ANIMAL SCIENCE PAPERS AND REPORTS

POLSKA AKAD NAUK

Año: 2023 vol. 41 p. 49 - 62

0860-4037

Porcine sperm cryopreservation allows genetic conservation but due to the difficulties for conventional freezing presented by this species, vitrification has been evaluated as an alternative conservation method, obtaining sperm with intact, condensed chromatin. The objective of this study was to evaluate if vitrified-warmed porcine sperm could maintain the capacity to generate zygotes and early embryo development in vitro. To this end, raw semen was vitrified using the spheres method, at a concentration of 5 × 106 sperm/mL in TALP medium supplemented with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA), without cryoprotectants (treatment group) and using conventional frozen-thawed semen as a control. Using ICSI, both vitrified-warmed and frozen-thawed semen were injected into in vitro matured porcine oocytes, and subsequent in vitro embryo development was monitored. No significant differences were observed between the treatment and control groups, both for the percentage of pronuclei (PN) obtained (p = 0.0682) and for embryo development attained (p=0.1669). Spheres vitrification in the absence of cryoprotectants is a simple, low-cost technique that allows porcine sperm preservation, conserving the capacity to produce zygotes and transferable embryos using ICSI.