title: In vivo serial sampling of epididymal sperm in mice.
abstract: This study was undertaken to refine the techniques of in vivo collection of sperm in the mouse. The principal objective was to offer a viable, safe and reliable method for serial collection of in vivo epididimary sperm through the direct puncture of the epididymis. Six C57Bl/6J males were subjected to the whole experiment. First we obtain a sperm sample of the right epididymis, and perform a vasectomy on the left side. This sample was used in an in vitro fertilization (IVF) experiment while the males were individually housed for 10 days to let them recover from the surgery, and then their fertility was tested with natural matings until we obtained a litter of each one. After that, the animals were subjected another time to the same process (sampling, recover and natural mating). The results of these experiments were a fertilization average value of 56.7%, and that all the males had a litter in the first month after the natural matings. This study documented the feasibility of the epididimary puncture technique to in vivo serial sampling of sperm in the mouse.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Criopreservación, Servicio de Experimentación Animal UMH, Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avenida Ramón y Cajal s/n, San Juan de Alicante, 03550 Alicante, Spain. g.moreno@umh.es
authors.forename: Gonzalo Moreno
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Del Val
authors.forename: Patricia Muñoz
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Robledano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004822:Epididymis / Q000601:surgery*; D005306:Fertilization; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000601:surgery*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D053625:Sperm Retrieval / Q000295:instrumentation; D013094:Spermatozoa; D013521:Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male / Q000379:methods*
keywords: 3 Rs; In vivo; epididymal; in vitro fertilization (IVF); refinement; sampling; serial; sperm