Criopreservación espermática en la especie porcinavariabilidad individual

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to study which factors could explain part of the ejaculate variation in sperm freezability, the incidence of DNA fragmentation in frozen-thawed boar spermatozoa, whether different boars require modifications in the freezing and thawing protocol to enhance sperm cryosurvival and, the possible role of seminal plasma in boar sperm freezability. The results revealed that boar is the most important factor explaining the different susceptibility among ejaculates to sustain cryopreservation and that the intra-boar variability is relatively low. The overall DNA damage in frozen-thawed boar sperm is low and slight adjustment of the glycerol concentration and warming rate provides a better sperm cryosurvival, particularly in those ejaculates which are considered as bad freezers. Finally, supplementation of freezing media with seminal plasma from males with good freezability, has a beneficial effect on post-thaw sperm cryosurvival