Fertility of Spermatozoa Cryopreserved with 2% Acetamide or Glycerol through Artificial Insemination in the Japanese White Rabbit

• Published in: Experimental Animals Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 29 - 34
• Main Authors: SEITA, Yasunari, SONOKI, Shigenori, KAMIJO, Shin-ichi, OKUDA, Yasushi, KASHIWAZAKI, Naomi, HISAMATSU, Shin, MASAOKA, Toshio, SHINO, Masao, INOMATA, Tomo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science 01.01.2007
• Subjects: acetamide; Acetamides; Animals; Cryopreservation - methods; Cryoprotective Agents; Female; Fertility; Glycerol; Insemination, Artificial; Japanese white rabbits; Male; Rabbits; Semen Preservation - methods; sperm cryopreservation; Spermatozoa - physiology
• ISSN: 1341-1357; 1881-7122
• DOI: 10.1538/expanim.56.29

The rabbit is considered to be a valuable laboratory animal. We compared 2% acetamide and glycerol as cryoprotectants in egg-yolk diluent for ejaculated Japanese white rabbit spermatozoa to improve sperm cryopreservation methods. Fertility through artificial insemination, forward progressive motility and plasma membrane integrity of the post-thaw spermatozoa were examined. The rates of forward progressive motility and plasma membrane integrity of the spermatozoa frozen with acetamide (27.1 ± 8.3% and 24.5 ± 6.5%) were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of the spermatozoa frozen with glycerol (16.3 ± 10.9% and 14.3 ± 7.6%). Though there was no significant difference in the kindling rates, the litter size of females inseminated with spermatozoa frozen with acetamide (6.0 ± 1.1) were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of spermatozoa frozen with glycerol (3.0 ± 0.4). The results indicate that 2% acetamide has a higher cryoprotective effect than 2% glycerol for sperm cryopreservation in the Japanese white rabbit.