Title page for ETD etd-11162007-064655

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Saenz, Jesse Ray

Author's Email Address

jsaenz1@lsu.edu

URN

etd-11162007-064655

Title

Cryopreservation of White-Tail Deer Epididymal Sperm for Artificial Insemination

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

Department

Animal Science (Animal, Dairy, & Poultry Sciences)

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Robert A. Godke	Committee Chair
Dale Paccamonti	Committee Member
Kenneth R. Bondioli	Committee Member

Keywords

White-tail deer
epididymal sperm
cryopreservation
artificial insemination
pregnancies

Date of Defense

2007-10-30

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The ability to cryopreserve epididymal sperm from mature postmortem bucks has
long been of interest to both wildlife conservationists and deer ranchers. Increased
understanding of the cryobiology of epididymal sperm from a non domestic species,
such as White-tail deer, could aid in development of future protocols to assist in the
preservation of endangered species. In Experiment I, results showed that after cooling
postmortem bull testes for 22 hours, no significant difference was noted between sperm
parameters of epididymal sperm collected at room temperature or at a cool enviorment.
In Experiment II, it was shown that White-tail deer sperm could be successfully
cryopreserved using a bovine freezing protocol. Also, if immediate processing of
epididymal sperm is not an option, testes can be held within the scrotum at 10°C to 15°C
for up to 24 hours prior to processing the sperm for freezing. In Experiment III, post-thaw
normal sperm morphology results show that glycerol should be considered over DMSO
when freezing White-tail deer epididymal sperm. In Experiment IV, it was shown that
White-tail deer epididymal sperm can be held in the presence of glycerol for up to 12
hours and still result in post-thaw motility values >30%. Also, when comparing exposure
time of White-tail deer epididymal sperm to glycerol there was relatively no change in
post-thaw membrane integrity from 0 hours to 24 hours. In the final experiment, the
fawning rates of three different estrous synchronization protocols using timed artificial
insemination were compared over two consecutive breeding seasons. The most
preferred synchronization protocol was a 14 day CIDR with an eCG injection at the time
of CIDR removal. A preliminary experiment was then conducted using the 14 day CIDR
with eCG to synchronize and artificially inseminate six does with frozen-thawed
epididymal sperm, resulting in five healthy fawns from three pregnancies.

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