Advances in stallion's epididymal sperm technology

Abstract

Unexpected death, catastrophic injury, castration or any other event that makes both semen collection and mating impossible can be costly in terms of the potential loss of genetically valuable stallion genes. In such circumstances, owners may request a final semen collection to allow propagation of valuable germplasm (Cary et. al. 2004). There are limited data regarding survival and fertility of frozen-thawed epididymal stallion sperm, although the first pregnancy using frozen-thawed stallion spermatozoa was reported in a mare inseminated with epididymal spermatozoa (Barker and Gandier 1957). Stallion sperm capable of fertilization can be harvested from the cauda epididymis (Barker and Gandier 1957, Johnson et al. 1980) and stored for future use, preserving valuable gene pool. The timing and, often, location for either castration or post-mortem tissue recovery are not always appropriate for sperm handling and preservation.