STUDY ON THE PROTECTIVE CAPACITY OF DIFFERENT DILUENTS DURING STORAGE IN A PASSIVE REFRIGERATION SYSTEM "BOTUFLEX® '', FOR 24 HOURS AT 5ºC, FOR FREEZING EQUINE SEMEN.

• Grant number: 24/02612-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: Frederico Ozanam Papa
• Grantee: Luiza Padovani Zanlorenzi Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The biotechnology for freezing equine semen has evolved a lot in the last two decades and, as a result, some stallions that were unable to pass the freezing test became part of this group, increasing the number of animals that can store genetic material through cryopreservation, mainly for those animals that are temporarily or permanently unable to be used in animal reproduction.The technique of refrigerating semen for 24 hours at 5ºC prior to freezing was developed by Melo (2005), who used the Equitainer® and Max-Semen Express® refrigeration system, which showed fertility rates similar to those obtained with the conventional semen protocol. freezing. These results showed that it was possible to collect, dilute and store equine semen in passive refrigeration equipment and freeze these samples within 24 hours, making it much easier for the field veterinarian, who carries out numerous reproductive activities during the same period such as artificial insemination, andrological examinations and gynecology, embryo collection and others.The present work aims to compare conventional freezing with cryopreservation using different refrigeration diluents in the Botuflex-Botupharma® equipment, for 24 hours at 5ºC and subsequently promote the freezing of these samples using conventional methodology (Papa et al 2002). With this, it is expected to achieve a protective action of the diluents to be tested in the pre-freezing refrigeration phase both in the thawing kinetics and in the plasma membrane, the spermatozoa will present better results in motility and integrity of the cytoplasmic membrane, as well as in the thawing of tested samples.