Abstract

Simple SummaryThe Phoenicopteridae family is made up of six species of which 50% are in near-threatened status and 17% are in vulnerable status because their population is decreasing. The American flamingo is a useful model for development of successful semen cryopreservation procedures to be applied to threatened related species from the family Phoenicopteridae, and to permit genetic material banking. The current study sought to develop effective sperm cryopreservation protocols through examining the influences of two permeating cryoprotectants and the seminal plasma removal. In addition, morphometric and functional sperm characteristics were studied for the first time in this species. Head morphometric data provide relevant information in future studies about sperm cryobiology in these species because the head size is related with the ability of sperm to survive the freeze/thawed process. There was no apparent effect of cryoprotectants (DMA (dimethylacetamide) 6% and Me2SO (dimethylsulphoxide) 8%) on frozen–thawed flamingo sperm variables. The removal of the seminal plasma provided lower sperm quality after thawing than samples containing seminal plasma. This research demonstrated that there were no differences between Me2SO and DMA to successful freezing sperm of flamingos, but we recommend the use of Me2SO because the cell toxic effect of DMA.The American flamingo is a useful model for the development of successful semen cryopreservation procedures to be applied to threatened related species from the family Phoenicopteridae, and to permit genetic material banking. Current study sought to develop effective sperm cryopreservation protocols through examining the influences of two permeating cryoprotectants and the seminal plasma removal. During two consecutive years (April), semen samples were collected and frozen from American flamingos. In the first year, the effect of two permeating cryoprotectants, DMA (dimethylacetamide) (6%) or Me2SO (dimethylsulphoxide) (8%), on frozen–thawed sperm variables were compared in 21 males. No differences were seen between DMA and Me2SO for sperm motility, sperm viability, and DNA fragmentation after thawing. In the second year, the role of seminal plasma on sperm cryoresistance was investigated in 31 flamingos. Sperm samples were cryopreserved with and without seminal plasma, using Me2SO (8%) as a cryoprotectant. The results showed that samples with seminal plasma had higher values than samples without seminal plasma for the following sperm variables: Straight line velocity (22.40 µm/s vs. 16.64 µm/s), wobble (75.83% vs. 69.40%), (p < 0.05), linearity (62.73% vs. 52.01%) and straightness (82.38% vs. 73.79%) (p < 0.01); but acrosome integrity was lower (55.56% vs. 66.88%) (p < 0.05). The cryoresistance ratio (CR) was greater in samples frozen with seminal plasma than without seminal plasma for CR-progressive motility (138.72 vs. 54.59), CR-curvilinear velocity (105.98 vs. 89.32), CR-straight line velocity (152.77 vs. 112.58), CR-average path velocity (122.48 vs. 98.12), CR-wobble (111.75 vs. 102.04) (p < 0.05), CR-linearity (139.41 vs. 113.18), and CR-straightness (124.02 vs. 109.97) (p < 0.01). This research demonstrated that there were not differences between Me2SO and DMA to successful freezing sperm of flamingos; seminal plasma removal did not provide a benefit for sperm cryopreservation.

Highlights

  • The Phoenicopteridae family is made up of six species which the 50% is in near threatened status and the 17% is in vulnerable status because their population is decreasing.The principal threats are the collection of eggs as food, mining activities, unfavorable water-levels, hyper-salinity of water, erosion of nest-sites, human disturbance, pollution and hunting food [1]

  • American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) males were housed in an outdoor exhibition enclosure at Madrid Zoo-Aquarium (Madrid, Spain) in natural condition of photoperiod and temperature

  • There were no apparent differences among cryoprotectants regarding its effects on frozen–thawed sperm variables

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Summary

Introduction

The Phoenicopteridae family is made up of six species which the 50% is in near threatened status and the 17% is in vulnerable status because their population is decreasing.The principal threats are the collection of eggs as food, mining activities, unfavorable water-levels, hyper-salinity of water, erosion of nest-sites, human disturbance, pollution and hunting food [1]. The Phoenicopteridae family is made up of six species which the 50% is in near threatened status and the 17% is in vulnerable status because their population is decreasing. The Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is near threatened and Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andino) is included in the IUCN red list of threatened species as vulnerable. The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a good animal model for the study of the sperm cryopreservation of flamingo species because its phylogenetic relationship with threatened species and its least concern status [1]. The storage of sperm in genetic resource banks allows maximizing the genetic diversity, and the sustainability of captive populations [2]. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies on the semen cryopreservation of flamingo species

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