Abstract
The cryopreservation of epididymal sperm is important to preserve genetic material from valuable deceased males. This study evaluated the viability of sperm samples from eight stallions under three conditions: (1) collected using an artificial vagina (EJ-0 h), (2) recovered from the epididymal cauda immediately after orchiectomy (EP-0 h), and (3) recovered from the epididymal cauda after 24 h of storage at 5 °C (EP-24 h). To obtain EJ-0 h sperm, two ejaculates were collected from each stallion. After 1 week, the stallions were submitted to bilateral orchiectomy, and one of the removed epididymides was flushed to obtain EP-0 h sperm. The contralateral epididymis was stored at 5 °C for 24 h before being flushed to obtain EP-24 h sperm. The sperm samples were analyzed at three different times: immediately after sperm recovery, after dilution in the freezing extender, and post-thawing. A fertility trial was performed using 39 estrous cycles. After ovulation induction with 1 mg of deslorelin acetate (i.m.), mares were inseminated with 800 × 10 6 sperm. The total number of sperm recovered was 7.8 ± 4.7 × 10 9 for EJ-0 h sperm, 12.9 ± 9.2 × 10 9 for EP-0 h sperm and 12.0 ± 8.0 × 10 9 for EP-24 h sperm. The sperm motility, evaluated by total motility, progressive motility and the percentage of rapid cells, was similar among the samples before and after freezing ( P > 0.05). However, the plasma membrane integrity was different between EJ-0 h and EP-0 h pre-freezing and between EJ-0 h and EP-24 h post-thawing ( P < 0.05). The conception rates were similar between groups inseminated with sperm recovered from the epididymal cauda immediately after orchiectomy (EP-0 h), after 24 h of storage at 5 °C of the epididymal cauda (EP-24 h) and with ejaculated sperm (EJ-0 h) ( P > 0.05). In conclusion, the viability and fertility of cauda epididymal sperm are similar to those of ejaculated sperm.
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