Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Theriogenology. 2011 Sep 1;76(4):705-14. doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2011.04.001. Epub 2011 Jun 8.
The Tasmanian devil is suffering from a severe population decline due to the fatal Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). The development of assisted reproductive technologies such as AI and long-term sperm storage could facilitate genetic management of captive insurance populations. The aim of this study was to characterise semen samples collected post-mortem, and to develop a suitable diluent for short-term preservation of devil sperm. Low numbers of sperm (1.33 ± 0.85 × 10(6) sperm per male) were extracted from the epididymides of 17 males. Devil sperm sample characteristics such as concentration and morphology were similar to other dasyurids. The most commonly observed morphological abnormalities were midpiece separation, tail curling, and tail twisting (on the axial plane). Changes in motility occurred throughout the regions of the epididymis with (mean ± SD) 29.4 ± 16.8, 46.8 ± 13.6 and 29.4 ± 18.1% of sperm exhibiting motility, and 88.9 ± 11.4, 32.0 ± 24.3 and 0.1 ± 0.2% of motile sperm exhibiting forward progressive motility in the cauda, corpus and caput, respectively. Sperm from the cauda and corpus epididymis maintained 31.7 ± 26.6 and 80.6 ± 85.9%, respectively, of initial motility after 12 h at 15 °C in a TEST yolk buffer diluent. These findings provided new information regarding devil sperm biology and short-term sperm storage; such information is necessary for future development of long-term sperm preservation methods in the Tasmanian devil.
塔斯马尼亚恶魔因致命的恶魔面部肿瘤疾病（DFTD）而数量严重减少。辅助生殖技术（如人工智能和长期精子储存）的发展可以促进圈养保险种群的遗传管理。本研究旨在描述死后采集的精液样本，并开发一种合适的稀释剂，以短期保存恶魔精子。从 17 只雄性的附睾中提取了数量较少的精子（每只雄性 1.33±0.85×10(6)个精子）。恶魔精子样本的特征，如浓度和形态与其他袋鼬目动物相似。最常见的形态异常是中段分离、尾巴卷曲和尾巴扭曲（在轴向平面上）。运动能力的变化发生在整个附睾区域，（平均值±标准差）分别有 29.4±16.8%、46.8±13.6%和 29.4±18.1%的精子具有运动能力，分别有 88.9±11.4%、32.0±24.3%和 0.1±0.2%的活动精子具有向前的渐进运动能力。在 15°C 的 TEST 卵黄缓冲液稀释剂中，尾部和体部的精子分别在 12 小时后保持初始运动能力的 31.7±26.6%和 80.6±85.9%。这些发现提供了关于恶魔精子生物学和短期精子储存的新信息；这些信息是未来在塔斯马尼亚恶魔中开发长期精子保存方法所必需的。
