Huang Yan, Li Desheng, Zhou Yingmin, Zhou Qiang, Li Rengui, Wang Chengdong, Huang Zhi, Hull Vanessa, Zhang Hemin
China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Wolong Nature Reserve, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Zoo Biol. 2012 Sep-Oct;31(5):561-73. doi: 10.1002/zoo.20421. Epub 2011 Sep 19.
Artificial insemination (AI) is an important component of captive breeding programs for endangered species, such as the giant panda. The panda has been the subject of increasingly successful captive breeding programs involving a compilation of assisted breeding techniques, including AI using cryopreserved spermatozoa. AI implementation is currently hampered by a lack of understanding of the factors that may cause failure. We investigated factors influencing the probability of success of AI for 14 giant panda females housed at the China Center for Research and Conservation of the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) inseminated in a total of 20 instances using cryopreserved spermatozoa from 11 males currently residing in 6 different captive breeding institutions. One of the pandas was the oldest giant panda female to ever successfully conceive from AI (20.5 years old). The success of AI was significantly affected by the timing of AI in relationship to both timing of peak urinary estrogen of the female and percent decline in urinary estrogen between the peak level and the first AI attempt. Our results suggest that the window for successful AI in giant pandas may be narrower than previously suspected, although individual differences in rates of decline in urinary estrogen may reflect some degree of variation in this crucial window across females. Our results are consistent with recent research on pandas and other species that demonstrates the efficacy of cryopreserved spermatozoa for AI and highlights the need for more in-depth analysis of factors related to female physiology that may influence its success.
人工授精（AI）是濒危物种圈养繁殖计划的重要组成部分，比如大熊猫。大熊猫一直是圈养繁殖计划越来越成功的对象，这些计划涉及一系列辅助繁殖技术，包括使用冷冻保存的精子进行人工授精。目前，由于对可能导致失败的因素缺乏了解，人工授精的实施受到阻碍。我们调查了影响14只圈养在中国大熊猫保护研究中心（CCRCGP）的雌性大熊猫人工授精成功率的因素，这些雌性大熊猫总共接受了20次人工授精，使用的是来自目前生活在6个不同圈养繁殖机构的11只雄性大熊猫的冷冻保存精子。其中一只大熊猫是有史以来通过人工授精成功受孕的年龄最大的雌性大熊猫（20.5岁）。人工授精的成功率受到人工授精时间的显著影响，这与雌性大熊猫尿液雌激素峰值时间以及从峰值水平到首次人工授精尝试期间尿液雌激素下降百分比都有关系。我们的研究结果表明，大熊猫成功进行人工授精的窗口期可能比之前认为的更窄，尽管尿液雌激素下降速率的个体差异可能反映出不同雌性大熊猫在这个关键窗口期存在一定程度的变化。我们的研究结果与最近关于大熊猫和其他物种的研究一致，这些研究证明了冷冻保存的精子用于人工授精的有效性，并强调需要更深入地分析与雌性生理相关的可能影响人工授精成功的因素。
