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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 17(7)

Studies on the cryopreservation of common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) spermatozoa

C. MacCallum A B and S. D. Johnston A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Animal Studies, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.

B Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo, NSW 2830, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: s.johnston1@uq.edu.au

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 17(7) 727-732 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD05082
Submitted: 11 July 2005  Accepted: 6 September 2005   Published: 2 November 2005

Abstract

In an attempt to develop a gamete-recovery protocol for the northern hairy nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii), spermatozoa were removed from the cauda epididymides of four common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) and cryopreserved following a variety of prefreeze storage conditions. Spermatozoa stored for 72 h at 4°C within the testicle before cryopreservation tolerated the freeze–thaw procedure remarkably well, resulting in a higher post-thaw viability (% motile P < 0.01; rate of movement P < 0.01; % live P < 0.01) than sperm recovered on the day of post-mortem, stored in a test tube for 72 h at 4°C and then frozen. The effect of post-thaw dilution with Tris citrate fructose (TCF) diluent on the survival of epididymal common wombat spermatozoa was also investigated. Motility (P < 0.05), rate of sperm movement (P < 0.01) and the percentage of live spermatozoa (P < 0.05) were all significantly greater when spermatozoa were thawed and diluted immediately in TCF than when thawed without dilution. The present study also reports, for the first time, a successful pellet method of freezing wombat spermatozoa on dry ice; volumes of 0.25 and 0.5 mL resulted in higher post-thaw survival compared with 0.1-mL pellets.

Extra keywords: epididymal spermatozoa, pellet method.


References

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| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | MacCallum C. A. (2004). The reproductive biology of the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus): studies towards the development of an artificial insemination protocol. M.Phil. thesis, School of Animal Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

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