Development of normal mice from oocytes injected with freeze-dried spermatozoa

Abstract

Freeze-dried mouse spermatozoa are all motionless and dead in the conventional sense. When injected into oocytes, however, their nuclei can support normal embryonic development even after three month preservation in a dried state. Although the freeze-drying protocol reported here will need further improvement, the results suggest that it may be possible to store the male genomes at room temperature.