Storage of Chinchilla lanigera semen at 4° C for 24 or 72 h with two different cryoprotectants.

CARRASCOSA R.E.,; MARTINI A.C.,; PONZIO M.F.,; BUSSO J.M.; PONCE A.A.; LACUARA J.L.

CRYOBIOLOGY

Elsevier Science.

Lugar: York, United Kingdom.; Año: 2001 vol. 42 p. 301 - 306

0011-2240

The cryopreservation of spermatozoa constitutes a valuable tool for the captive breeding management but the best efforts usually result in the recovery of only about half of the original sperm motility. The objectives of the present study were to: a) test the functional activity of Chinchilla lanigera cooled (4ºC) sperm, storaged during 24 h and 72 h with two freezing cryoprotectants: Glycerol or Ethylene glycol and b) investigate, after cooling, the effects of incubating sperm at 37°C (during 4 h) in presence of the cryoprotectants. The ejaculate was mixed with the cryoprotectant medium (at 1M final concentration), pippetted into plastic straws and cooled at  4ºC for two different periods of time. In cooled-warmed semen samples, sperm motility, viability, hypoosmotic swelling test and acrosomal  integrity were significantly higher in samples cooled in medium containing Ethylene glycol than Glycerol at 24 h or 72 h storage as much as 0 h or 4 h incubation at 37°C. Only when the Glycerol cryo-buffer was employed, a significant reduction of sperm motility and viability was detected when compared to the fresh samples. Results here exposed indicate that Ethylene glycol, under our experimental conditions, is a better cryoprotectant agent than Glycerol, because it retains sperm functional activity without important changes during some days of storage. Furthermore, storing chinchilla spermatozoa at 4°C during short periods of time is an interesting possibility that should be proved in semen from other species, because is an useful, practical and inexpensive method of short term spermatozoa storage.