148 PRODUCTION OF PUPS BY OVARIAN TRANSFER IN THE SYRIAN HAMSTER

Abstract

Instead of gametes, ovaries could be used as alternative resources for cryopreservation. In this study, we attempted to produce pups by transplantation of fresh ovaries to foster mothers as a first step to establish a preservation method of hamster strains on the basis of the cryopreservation of ovaries in combination with ovarian transfers. We also checked the possibility of inter-strain transfers of ovaries, since immunological tolerance among hamster strains is suggested by the fact that most Syrian hamsters were derived from only a small number of animals. Fresh ovaries collected from 3-weekold females of HAW (white coat) and APA (albino) strains were transferred into ovarian bursae of 3-week-old recipient females with agouti-coat (Slc:Syrian) under anesthesia with xylazine and ketamine. Halves of ovaries of recipients were removed immediately before the transfers, i.e., both donor and recipient ovaries were present in each ovarian bursa. Successful transplantation of ovaries was checked by the coat color (non-agouti color) of offspring produced by test matings of recipients with Slc:Syrian males after the recipients became mature. Five and six recipients received HAW and APA ovaries, respectively. All 11 recipients tested became pregnant and delivered pups. According to the coat color of the pups, three of five recipients which received HAW ovaries and one of six recipients which received APA ovaries delivered pups derived from transplanted ovaries (two out of eight pups, one out of seven pups, and three out of 11 pups for HAW; one out of five pups for APA). Our results indicate that transplantation of fresh ovaries to foster mothers could be used for production of pups from grafted ovaries in the Syrian hamster. In particular, immunological tolerance for ovarian transfers among at least three strains suggests that recipient strains might not need to be the same as donor strains for practical ovarian transfers in the Syrian hamster. Our results would facilitate the development of a strain preservation system for the Syrian hamster based on ovarian cryopreservation.

This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan.