The reproductive capacity of captive giant pandas is poor and sperm cryopreservation is necessary for the reproduction and conservation of this species. Cryopreservation, however, leads to a significant decrease in sperm quality, including sperm motility, acrosome integrity and DNA integrity. In the present study, a method was developed based on colloid single layer centrifugation that could significantly improve frozen-thawed sperm quality. Two colloids were compared for post-thaw giant panda sperm preparation; the sperm samples had greater total motility (Colloid 1: 44.5 ± 16.0%, Colloid 2: 42.4 ± 10.1% compared with Control: 25.4 ± 8.4%, P < 0.05), linear velocity (Colloid 1: 17.2 ± 8.3 μm/s; Colloid 2: 19.0 ± 9.0 μm/s compared with Control: 6.6 ± 1.7 μm/s, P < 0.05) and membrane integrity (Colloid: 46.9 ± 13.2%; Colloid 2: 54.3 ± 5.7% compared with Control: 36.0 ± 9.1%; P < 0.05). This method could be a useful tool to enable the use of poor quality sperm samples and benefit this population by using available genetic material.
Keywords: Cryopreservation; Giant panda; Single layer centrifugation; Sperm.
Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.