Fertilizing Ability of Post-Thaw of Epididymal Spermatozoa Stored for 48 H at 4° C Prior Cryopreservation in Domestic Cat

Abstract

Many mammalian species, including felids species, are threatened or endangered. As with all animals, species within felidae provide a larger benefit to the ecosystem and to humans while pursuing their own individual purpose of survival, maintenance, and reproduction. To prevent further extinction, it is appears to be justified to bring n1odern reproductive techniques to assist reproduction and conservation of the genetic resources of species threatened by extinction . Much progress has been made during the last decade towards developing assisted reproductive technologies for use in captive breeding programmes for conserving or enhancing the genetic diversity of threatened and endangered felids [1,2]. Since a liinited number of endangered felid fe1nale and male gametes are available, the domestic cat has served as a convenient research model species for endangered felids [3]. It has been reported that spermatozoa collected from epididymides stored at 4 C for a few days can maintain their motility (pig [4]; horse and shika deer (5]) and that they can be frozen and retain the ability to fertilize oocytes in vitro (pig [4]; monkey [6]). Post-mortem spermatozoa recovery is an important technique for obtaining germplasm reserves from genetically valuable animals or endangered species. However, there are many factors that influence the outcome of this technique. In this research, we studied whether spermatozoa within epididymides stored at 4 oc remain their motility and are able to penetrate the feline oocytes in vitro.