title: Preliminary studies of sperm cryopreservation in the mushroom coral, Fungia scutaria.
abstract: Coral species throughout the world are facing severe environmental pressures. Because of this, we began cryobiological studies on the sperm of the mushroom coral, Fungia scutaria. We determined that F. scutaria sperm had a mean length of 56 microm and head diameter of 2.5 microm, and a mean spontaneous ice nucleation temperature of -37.2 +/- 1.7 degrees C. When the sperm were exposed to the cryoprotectant glycerol for 5 or 20 min (at 10% v/v), no fertilized larvae were produced. However, when sperm were exposed for 20 min to propylene glycol (10% v/v), fertilizations were produced at the same rate as untreated control eggs and sperm (P > 0.05), but slightly less for dimethyl sulfoxide (10% v/v) (P < 0.05). Regardless, dimethyl sulfoxide caused less osmotic damage to the sperm membrane than did propylene glycol. Therefore, we used the dimethyl sulfoxide (10% v/v) to develop cryopreservation protocols that yielded good post-thaw morphology and motility (>95%) for coral sperm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Sciences, Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, Washington, DC 20008, USA. hagedornm@si.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hagedorn
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steyn
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krupp
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Tiersch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa; D015925:Cryopreservation; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D005306:Fertilization / Q000187:drug effects; D005990:Glycerol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D019946:Propylene Glycol / Q000494:pharmacology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; D019946:Propylene Glycol; D005990:Glycerol; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide