Long-term storage of mouse spermatozoa after evaporative drying

Abstract

To determine if mouse spermatozoa could be preserved long-term without using liquid nitrogen, mouse spermatozoa in trehalose-EGTA solution were partially evaporatively dried under nitrogen gas (5 min at flow rate10 l/min) and stored for 1 week and 5 months at 4, -20, and -80 degrees C before intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Fertilization rates were neither different with spermatozoa stored at 4, -20, or -80 degrees C for 1 week or 1, 3, and 5 months respectively, nor blastocyst formation rates with spermatozoa stored for 1 week and 1 month. However, spermatozoa stored at 4 and -20 degrees C for 3 months resulted in fewer blastocysts (35.1 and 54.3% respectively) when compared with spermatozoa stored at -80 degrees C (74.4%). Blastocyst formation rates using spermatozoa stored for 5 months at -20 degrees C (57.4%) or -80 degrees C (74.5%) were not significantly different from those stored for 3 months at the same temperatures respectively, but were significantly better than those stored for 5 months at 4 degrees C (10.2%). Blastocysts derived from spermatozoa stored for 3 and 5 months at -20 and -80 degrees C respectively, were then transferred to pseudopregnant mothers to develop into healthy liveborn offspring. No significant differences were found in embryo transfer rates (number of pups born/number of embryos transferred), weaning rates, or sex ratios of resultant pups, which were healthy and reproductively sound. These results demonstrate for the first time that partially evaporatively dried mouse spermatozoa in trehalose-EGTA solution can be preserved for long term at -20 and -80 degrees C. The possibility that the storage temperature must be less than the glass transition temperature is discussed.