Cryopreservation of Chirostoma jordani sperm, fish model for the conservation of the genus in Mexico

Abstract

Genus Chirostoma belongs to Atherinopsidae family and it is an endemic species from the Mesa Central in Mexico. Abundance of its species have decreased and some ones have been placed on the threatened species list, because of overfishing, urbanization, industrialization, destruction, habitat fragmentation, pollution and exotic species introduction. Chirostoma jordani (Woolman, 1894) is a freshwater fish with biological, ecological, cultural, and commercial importance. It has a broad distribution in Lerma drainage, Durango and Mexico City. In this last locality, their populations, although small, still persist in Xochimilco Lake; it is necessary to implement biotechnologies for their conservation, because of these causes and their basic biology. The aim was to standardize a sperm cryopreservation protocol in C. jordani, to determine extender solution, cryoprotective agent type and concentration, equilibrium time, freezing and thawed rate to be applied in assisted reproduction and conservation of genus Chirostoma. Chirostoma jordani adult males were collected in Atlangatepec Dam, Tlaxcala State, Mexico, to fresh seminal evaluation and cryopreservation protocol standardization. Four cryoprotectants effect was evaluated: dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), methanol (MeOH), ethylene glycol (EG), and glycerol (GL) at five concentrations: 2%, 6%, 10%, 14% and 16% v/v. Higher and lower DMSO and MeOH 10% and EG 14%, decreased post-thaw motility percentage. Both DMSO and MeOH 10% and EG 14% had the highest post-thaw motility percentages, 48.8 ± 1.5%, 54.5 ± 1.0% and 53.5 ± 1.0%, at 15, 10, and 5 min equilibrium times, respectively, thawed at 40°C. Chirostoma jordani sperm can be cryopreserved with both DMSO and MeOH 10%, and EG 14%. These ones can be used for assisted reproduction. GL was not efficient, since it presented a post-thaw motility percentage very low.