Live birth of hybrid (O. musimon X Q. aries) lambs following intrauterine insemination in domestic sheep with mouflon semen obtained 40 hours postmortem

Short communication. Post-thawing evaluation of Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica hispanica) epididymal spermatozoa recovered postmortem

“…Similarly, previous works on other wild species, such as mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon), have reported the possibility of obtaining viable sperm material up to 40 h after the animal's death (Garde et al, 1995). Also, in red deer, viable sperm can be obtained up to 24 h after the animal's death (Garde et al, 1998).…”

“…Similarly, previous works on other wild species, such as mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon), have reported the possibility of obtaining viable sperm material up to 40 h after the animal's death (Garde et al, 1995). Also, in red deer, viable sperm can be obtained up to 24 h after the animal's death (Garde et al, 1998). As well as the period between death and sperm collection, the storage temperature of the testicles has also been shown to affect sperm quality (Soler et al, 2003b).…”

“…Because of this situation, the development of reproductive technologies aimed at creating banks of genetic resources of Spanish Ibex, constitutes a guarantee to preserve its different populations and ecotypes when faced with situations of population instability that can affect its viability and can also lead to its extinction. The freezing of epididymal spermatozoa obtained after an animal's death is a technique that has been established in other game ungulates such as the mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon) and the red deer (Cervus elaphus) (Garde et al, 1995;Soler et al, 2003a), and is very useful to create germplasm banks in non domesticated species. The aim of the present work was to assess the technique used to collect and freeze epididymal spermatozoa of the Spanish Ibex, collected postmortem, using in vitro analysis of the sperm parameters after thawing.…”

Recovery and Cryopreservation of Spanish Ibex Epididymal Spermatozoa

“…Retrograde flushing of the vas deferens with PBS or cryoprotectant medium has been used for collecting spermatozoa after death in mouflons [Garde et al 1995] and red deer [Martinez-Pastor et al 2006], and recent studies have compared the flushing and cutting methods for spermatozoa recovery in the latter species [Martinez-Pastor et al 2006]. It was concluded that the flushing method led to lower contamination and provided sperm of better quality.…”

“…In humans, percutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration is a good alternative for certain patients with obstructive azoospermia [Shrivastav et al 1994]. In animals, a number of methods for recovering epididymal spermatozoa after death have been successful, such as retrograde flushing with Dulbeccós phosphate-buffered saline in mouflons [Garde et al 1995], puncturing the tubules of the caudae epididymides in African wild ruminants [Kilian et al 2000], and lacing the caudae epididymides with different media in mice [Songsasen et al 1998;An et al 1999] and African antelope species [Loskutoff et al 1996]. The collection of spermatozoa by making several small cuts with a scalpel at the tail of the epididymis has been commonly used in wild species, including the Spanish ibex, with high recovery efficiency [Soler et al 2003;Perez-Garnelo et al 2004;Santiago-Moreno et al 2006a].…”