Revitalizing genetically-modified mouse strains using frozen–thawed sperm after up to 192 h of refrigerated epididymis transportation

By Gonzalo Moreno-del Val - Patricia Muñoz-Robledano

In the scientific interchange of genetically-modified mouse strains the transportation of refrigerated epididymis has several advantages over the transportation of live animals, especially with regard to the 3R (replacement, reduction and refinement) principles. The major limiting factor is the duration of the transportation. Previous reports have shown that sperm collected from transported epididymis maintained their fertility for around 72 h, but there are no published data with longer transportation times, and this window of time may be too short, especially for international shipments and where locations are not well connected. In this study live pups were born using frozen–thawed sperm after up to 192 h (8 days) of transportation, using a special in vitro fertilization design which resulted in a fertilization rate of 10.5%.