Strategies for Highly Efficient Rabbit Sperm Cryopreservation
by
, ,
Kazutoshi Nishijima
1,2,3,*, 
Shuji Kitajima
4,
Fumikazu Matsuhisa
4,
Manabu Niimi
5,
Chen-chi Wang
6 and
Jianglin Fan
5,7,*
1
Center for Animal Resources and Collaborative Study, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
2
National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
3
Department of Physiological Sciences, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Aichi, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
4
Analytical Research Center for Experimental Sciences, Division of Biological Resources and Development, Saga University, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga 849-8501, Japan
5
Department of Molecular Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Yamanashi, 1110 Shimokato, Chuo 409-3898, Japan
6
Animal Resources Section, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Kunigami-gun, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
7
School of Biotechnology and Health Sciences, Wuyi University, Jiangmen 529020, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1220; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051220
Submission received: 15 March 2021
/
Revised: 20 April 2021
/
Accepted: 21 April 2021
/
Published: 23 April 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges and New Strategies on Rabbit Breeding)
Simple Summary
The rabbit is a valuable animal for both the economy and biomedical sciences. Therefore, the preservation of many rabbit strains is vitally important. So far, sperm cryopreservation is one of the most efficient ways to preserve rabbit strains because it is easy to collect ejaculate repeatedly from a single male and perform artificial insemination to multiple females. Although this method is widely used, there are still some concerns regarding the cooling, freezing and thawing process of sperms, which markedly affects the quality of preserved sperms. In this article, we will review the progress made during the past years in terms of cryopreservation of rabbit sperms and discuss those factors that would possibly influence sperm damage including freezing extender, cryoprotectant, supplements, and procedures.
Abstract
The rabbit is a valuable animal for both the economy and biomedical sciences. Sperm cryopreservation is one of the most efficient ways to preserve rabbit strains because it is easy to collect ejaculate repeatedly from a single male and inseminate artificially into multiple females. During the cooling, freezing and thawing process of sperms, the plasma membrane, cytoplasm and genome structures could be damaged by osmotic stress, cold shock, intracellular ice crystal formation, and excessive production of reactive oxygen species. In this review, we will discuss the progress made during the past years regarding efforts to minimize the cell damage in rabbit sperms, including freezing extender, cryoprotectants, supplements, and procedures.
