Live birth after transfer of vitrified embryos from superovulated goats

Abstract

In this study, the viability of vitrified goat embryos recovered from superovulated nondescript Philippine goats were evaluated post-warming by transferring to surrogate does. Of 17 does treated for superovulation, 3 did not respond and 14 responded with a 13.07 mean ovulation rate. An average of 9.7 embryos per doe was collected at different developmental stages. Using a container-less minimum drop size (MDS) method of vitrification, 50 and 64 embryos were exposed to vitrification solution 1 (VS1) containing 10% ethylene glycol in basic medium (BM) consisting of Hepes buffered TCM-199 medium + 20% estrus-doe serum solution for 3 min and 10 min, respectively. Immediately thereafter, the embryos were transferred to 40% EG + 1 M sucrose in BM for 45 Sec before recovering and dropping directly into LN 2. After 3 months of storage, the embryos were warmed in 2 ml of 0.3 M sucrose in BM for 5 min and washed twice before transferring into culture medium. Morphologically normal embryos were then transferred surgically to 6 recipients. Seven kids were born after a normal gestation period with birthweights ranging from 0.78-2.5 kg. The results highlight the usefulness of the MDS method of vitrification using an ethylene glycol based solution in the cryopreservation of goat embryos. That, continuous research effort should be made for optimizing cryopreservation protocols for conservation of animal genetic resources. Keywords: Embryo transfer; live birth; superovulation; vitrification To cite this article: Ocampo MB, JQ Silvestre, VD Viernes and LC Ocampo, 2016. Live birth after transfer of vitrified embryos from superovulated goats. Res. Opin. Anim. Vet. Sci., 6(2): 47-52.