title: Studies on the cryopreservation of common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) spermatozoa.
abstract: In an attempt to develop a gamete-recovery protocol for the northern hairy nosed wombat ( Lasiorhinus krefftii ), spermatozoa were removed from the cauda epididymides of four common wombats ( Vombatus ursinus ) and cryopreserved following a variety of prefreeze storage conditions. Spermatozoa stored for 72 h at 4 degrees C within the testicle before cryopreservation tolerated the freeze-thaw procedure remarkably well, resulting in a higher post-thaw viability (% motile P < 0.01; rate of movement P < 0.01; % live P < 0.01) than sperm recovered on the day of post-mortem, stored in a test tube for 72 h at 4 degrees C and then frozen. The effect of post-thaw dilution with Tris citrate fructose (TCF) diluent on the survival of epididymal common wombat spermatozoa was also investigated. Motility (P < 0.05), rate of sperm movement (P < 0.01) and the percentage of live spermatozoa (P < 0.05) were all significantly greater when spermatozoa were thawed and diluted immediately in TCF than when thawed without dilution. The present study also reports, for the first time, a successful pellet method of freezing wombat spermatozoa on dry ice; volumes of 0.25 and 0.5 mL resulted in higher post-thaw survival compared with 0.1-mL pellets.
authors.affiliation: School of Animal Studies, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: MacCallum
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Johnston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D008394:Marsupialia; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology*