BREAKING NEWS: FROZEN EPIDIDYMAL SPERM FROM A EUTHANIZED STALLION PRODUCES A PREGNANCY In 2012, we at ERC received a call from a referring veterinarian with a unique circumstance. They had a stallion that was about to be euthanized and an emotional client wanted to know if there was any way we could harvest and freeze sperm from him for potential use in the future. After assessing the situation, it was suggested that they castrate the stallion prior to euthanasia and bring his testicles to us as quickly as possible. Forty-five minutes later, the testicles arrived. Dr. Dippert and Dr. Reyes-Espinosa at our facility then immediately began procedures to harvest sperm from the epididymal ducts, structures that lie above each testis and are responsible for final maturation and storage of sperm that exit out of the gonad. After approximately 90 minutes of dissection, the caudal portion of each epididymis was flushed with semen extender in order to harvest those sperm in storage. The sperm mixture was then evaluated for motility and concentration and then further mixed with a specific semen extender for freezing. Over the next 2 hours, close to 32 billion sperm were frozen in 159 straws and put in storage for future use. This year, the owners contacted us about trying to breed one of their mares to the semen. Harvested epididymal sperm historically has poor pregnancy rates, aside from it also being frozen. Nevertheless, a strong interest was there to do what we can to try and get one last offspring out of their cherished stallion. Hence, in late April they brought a 12-yr-old, Hanoverian mare to our facility for breeding management. Over the next 2 months, Dr. Portman and Dr. Dippert tried a variety of methods to optimize 2 breeding cycles however these efforts failed to produce a pregnancy. On the third managed cycle however, we made efforts to break new ground on the techniques used. Prolonged incubation of thawed sperm, strategic placement of the inseminate in utero and utilization of the additive, Platelet-activating Factor were all part of the latest breeding protocol. Much to everyone’s delight, an examination 15 days after insemination confirmed that a pregnancy was obtained. This pregnancy is the first produced by ERC as a result of frozen epididymal sperm. Although several universities have performed research on the breeding and freezing of epididymal sperm over the years, very few public or private facilities offer epididymal sperm harvesting, freezing and insemination because of the technical expertise involved and the historically low pregnancy rates. The techniques used recently at ERC may very well pioneer a more promising way to obtain pregnancies from the use of frozen epididymal sperm. This also opens up a new pathway under emergency situations whereby stallion owners can still obtain sperm for future use. All of us at ERC would like to thank Gerry and Laura Celia of Warrenton, VA for allowing us to help achieve their goals. Congratulations on the prospective foal coming from their mare Tussi and their deceased stallion Omologato.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 22:19:12 +0000
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