Cryopreservation effects on plasma membrane and acrosome integrity in <em>C</em><em>allithrix penicillata </em>semen — ASN Events
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  2. Poster Session 2
  3. Cryopreservation effects on plasma membrane and acrosome integrity in Callithrix penicillata semen

Cryopreservation effects on plasma membrane and acrosome integrity in Callithrix penicillata semen (#505)

Paloma R Arakaki 1 , Fernanda M Carvalho 1 , Marcílio Nichi 1 , José APC Muniz 2 , Frederico OB Monteiro 3 , Marcelo ABV Guimarães 1 , Rodrigo R Valle 4 5
  1. Department of Animal Reproduction, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
  2. National Primate Center, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil
  3. Instituto de Saúde e Produção Animal, Federal Rural University of Amazon, Belém, PA, Brazil
  4. Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Paulista University, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
  5. São Paulo Zoo Foundation, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Reproductive biotechnologies are important tools for species conservation. For the first time, results of Callithrix penicillata semen cryopreservation are being described. Semen samples collected from four C. penicillata, held in a captive colony at the Centro Nacional de Primatas – CENP (National Primate Center), Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil, by penile vibroestimulation,2 were  frozen in two different freezing media – egg yolk-based extender with 4 and 6% glycerol. Semen was frozen in nitrogen vapour and immersed in liquid nitrogen. The effect of cryopreservation on plasma membrane and acrosome integrity was assessed through Eosin-Nigrosin staining2 and the “Simple” stain for acrosome.1,2 Results for plasma membrane integrity were 62.83 ± 6.9% and 19,33 ± 5,36% and for acrosome integrity 76.66 ± 5.1% and 15,5 ± 3.21% for fresh and cryopreserved semen, respectively. LSD test revealed significant differences (p<0.05) in both plasma membrane and acrosome integrity between fresh and frozen-thawed semen, showing a higher percentage of cells with plasma membrane and acrosome damaged in the frozen-thawed semen when compared to fresh semen. There were no differences between extenders. Further studies are needed to develop an appropriate protocol for cryopreservation of semen from this species and to prevent these negative effects on sperm after cryopreservation, in order to enable the application of reproductive technologies with cryopreserved semen. However, this report presents new information that may assist future studies on sperm cryopreservation of this and other Neotropical primates species.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The authors thank the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Andrology Lab at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of São Paulo (FMVZ, USP) and the National Primate Center (CENP), Ministry of Health, for their technical and/or financial support. 

  1. Pope, C.E.; Y.Z. Zhang, and B.L. Dresser. 1991. A simple staining method for evaluating acrosomal status of cat spermatozoa. J. Zoo Wildl. Med. 22: 87-95.
  2. Valle, R.R., C.M.R. Valle, M. Nichi, J.A.P.C. Muniz, P.L. Nayudu, and M.A.B.V. Guimarães. 2008. Validation of non-fluorescent methods to reliably detect acrosomal and plasma membrane integrity of common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) sperm. Theriogenology. 70:115-120.