Fertility after Different Artificial Insemination Methods Using a Synthetic Semen Extender in Sheep

Abstract

Abstract. The present study aimed to investigate the fertility of ewes artificially inseminated with three different methods using a synthetic semen extender, AndroMed. The three methods of artificial insemination (AI) were cervical AI with fresh-diluted or frozen-diluted semen at observed estrus, and an intrauterine AI with frozen-thawed semen. A total of 80 ewes were treated with a controlled internal drug release (CIDR) containing 0.3 g progesterone per device for 12 days. In Experiment 1 (26 Suffolk ewes), superovulation was induced with 20 mg follicle-stimulating hormone and 250 IU equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) two days and one day before CIDR removal, respectively, during the nonbreeding season. In Experiment 2 (54 Suffolk and Suffolk crossbred ewes), an intramuscular injection of 500 IU eCG was administered one day before CIDR removal to synchronize estrus and ovulation during the breeding season. In Experiment 1, fresh-diluted or frozen-thawed semen was deposited into the cervical orifice after estrus detection, and an intrauterine AI with frozen-thawed semen was performed by laparoscopy at a fixed-time basis without estrus detection. Embryos were recovered by uterine flushing 6 days after AI, and the rates of recovered, fertilized (cleaved) ova and embryos at the morula or blastocyst stage were compared among the three AI methods. In Experiment 2, the pregnancy rates after the three AI methods were compared. In Experiment 1, the rates of recovered ova were not significantly different among the three AI methods (52.5-56.7%). The rate of fertilized ova (81.0%) by laparoscopic AI with frozen-thawed semen was significantly higher compared with cervical AI of fresh-diluted (25.5%) or frozenthawed (3.5%) semen, but the rate of embryos at the morula or blastocyst stage (17.6%) was significantly lower than that of the cervical AI with fresh-diluted semen (69.2%). The rates of ewes yielding fertilized ova were not significantly different among the three groups (44.4, 11.1 and 62.5% for cervical AI with fresh-diluted and frozen-thawed semen and intrauterine AI with frozen-thawed semen). In Experiment 2, the pregnancy rate of ewes intrauterinally inseminated with frozen-thawed semen (72.2%) was significantly higher than those of ewes inseminated cervically with freshdiluted (5.5%) or frozen-thawed (0.0%) semen. The present results showed that acceptable fertilization and pregnancy rates could be obtained by an intrauterine AI with frozen-thawed semen using a synthetic semen extender (AndroMed), but not sufficient by the cervical AI with either fresh or frozen semen. Key words: Artificial insemination (AI), Fertility, Semen extender, Sheep (J. Reprod. Dev. 55: [50][51][52][53][54] 2009) n artificial insemination (AI) of farm animals including sheep, egg yolk or milk based semen extender have been widely utilized for semen cryopreservation [1][2][3]. Our pervious studies [4,5] reported that bovine serum albumin (BSA) could be used instead of egg yolk as a semen extender. However, egg yolk and BSA are of ani...

Effects of Semen Extenders and Storage Temperatures on Characteristics of Frozen-Thawed Bryde's (Balaenoptera edeni) Whale Spermatozoa

“…The semen extenders were; AndroMed [6,7] and two Tris-based extenders containing 297.58 mM Tris, 96.32 mM citric acid, 82.66 mM fructose, 5% (v/ v) glycerol and either 15% (v/v) egg yolk [6,9] or 10% (w/v) BSA [6,8,10]. The three semen extenders have been defined here as AM, BSA and EY for the AndroMed, Tris-based BSA-containing and Tris-based egg yolk-containing solutions, respectively.…”

“…Fukui et al [6] compared the fertility of ewes inseminated intrauterinally with frozen semen using AndroMed (AM) and Tris-based extenders containing BSA or egg yolk and found similar lambing rates among the three semen extenders (56.7, 55.2 and 64.5% for AM and semen extenders containing BSA or egg yolk, respectively). Hiwasa et al [7] also showed that acceptable fertilization rates of superovulated ewes after AI with fresh-diluted or frozen-thawed semen using AM could be obtained in the field. To the best of our best knowledge, there is no report on survival and sperm character-istics of frozen-thawed semen diluted with a synthetic semen extender (AM) at different storage temperatures in baleen whales, including Bryde's whales.…”

“…Our recent studies [6][7][8] on artificial insemination (AI) in sheep have clearly shown that a soybean-based semen extender (AndroMed) is useful and comparable to the conventional semen extenders containing egg yolk or BSA. Fukui et al [6] compared the fertility of ewes inseminated intrauterinally with frozen semen using AndroMed (AM) and Tris-based extenders containing BSA or egg yolk and found similar lambing rates among the three semen extenders (56.7, 55.2 and 64.5% for AM and semen extenders containing BSA or egg yolk, respectively).…”

A new device to inseminate cows at the base of the uterine horns

“…However, it is necessary to adjust the technique to achieve higher pregnancy rates. Laparoscopy has been successfully used for insemination in deer (Asher et al., ; Dradjat, ), goats (Kulaksiz & Daskin, ; Vallet, Baril, Leboeuf, & Perin, ) and sheep (Gourley & Riese, ; Hiwasa, Kohno, Togari, Okabe, & Fukui, ), generating pregnancy rates over 70% with fresh semen and 50% using frozen semen. The technique has also been used to inseminate superovulated ewes with conventional (Armstrong & Evans, ) and SS (de Graaf et al., ) generating over 75% fertilization rates.…”

“…Laparoscopy has been successfully used for insemination in deer (Asher et al, 1990;Dradjat, 2004), goats (Kulaksiz & Daskin, 2012;Vallet, Baril, Leboeuf, & Perin, 1992) and sheep (Gourley & Riese, 1990;Hiwasa, Kohno, Togari, Okabe, & Fukui, 2009), generating pregnancy rates over 70% with fresh semen and 50% using frozen semen.…”