Efficacy of short-term cold storage prior to cryopreservation of spermatozoa in a threatened lizard

Lachlan Campbell, John Clulow, Belinda Howe, Rose Upton, Sean Doody, Simon Clulow*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    7 Citations (Scopus)
    6 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have a significant role to play in reptile conservation, yet are severely lacking. Previous attempts to cryopreserve spermatozoa in the threatened lizard Varanus panoptes achieved approximately 48% motile sperm post-thaw for samples frozen immediately after collection. However, the feasibility of extended cold storage before cryopreservation has not been tested. We held V. panoptes spermatozoa at either 25°C or 4°C for 8 days, assessing sperm motility at days 1, 2, 4 and 8. Subsamples were cryopreserved on days 1 and 4 following the previously reported protocol for this species. Percentage motility decreased rapidly at 25°C, but did not decrease significantly until 4 days after collection at 4°C, with >30% motility maintained after 8 days. There was no significant difference in post-thaw motility or viability of samples cryopreserved after 1 or 4 days storage at 4°C, yielding substantial results for both parameters (mean motility 23.8% and 28.1% and mean viability 50.1% and 57.5% after 1 and 4 days respectively). We demonstrate the capacity to extend sperm viability for up to 8 days in unfrozen samples and to produce acceptable post-thaw motility in samples frozen after 4 days of storage, contributing to the development of valuable ARTs for lizards and other reptiles.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)555-561
    Number of pages8
    JournalReproduction, Fertility and Development
    Volume33
    Issue number9
    Early online date2 Mar 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Publisher 2021. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Corrigendum: Campbell Lachlan, Clulow John, Howe Belinda, Upton Rose, Doody Sean Clulow Simon (2021) Corrigendum to: Efficacy of short-term cold storage prior to cryopreservation of spermatozoa in a threatened lizard. Reproduction, Fertility and Development 33, 619-619.
    https://doi.org/10.1071/RD20231_CO

    Keywords

    • assisted reproductive technologies
    • conservation
    • genome storage
    • reptile
    • squamate
    • squamate.

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