Abstract

The reproductive capacity of captive giant pandas is poor and sperm cryopreservation is necessary for the reproduction and conservation of this species. Cryopreservation, however, leads to a significant decrease in sperm quality, including sperm motility, acrosome integrity and DNA integrity. In the present study, a method was developed based on colloid single layer centrifugation that could significantly improve frozen-thawed sperm quality. Two colloids were compared for post-thaw giant panda sperm preparation; the sperm samples had greater total motility (Colloid 1: 44.5 +/- 16.0%, Colloid 2: 42.4 +/- 10.1% compared with Control: 25.4 +/- 8.4%, P < 0.05), linear velocity (Colloid 1: 17.2 +/- 8.3 mu m/s; Colloid 2: 19.0 +/- 9.0 mu m/s compared with Control: 6.6 +/- 1.7 mu m/s, P < 0.05) and membrane integrity (Colloid: 46.9 +/- 13.2%; Colloid 2: 54.3 +/- 5.7% compared with Control: 36.0 +/- 9.1%; P < 0.05). This method could be a useful tool to enable the use of poor quality sperm samples and benefit this population by using available genetic material.

Keywords

Giant panda; Sperm; Cryopreservation; Single layer centrifugation

Published in

Animal Reproduction Science
2018, Volume: 195, pages: 58-64
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Morrell, Jane

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2018.05.006

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96329