Freeze-Drying of Bovine Spermatozoa

freeze-drying as a method of preserving spermatozoa was not successful.However, the experimental approaches have not been exhausted.Editor.That bovine spermatozoa can be frozen, thawed, and then used for routine insemination is an established fact (3, .~,11, 14, 15, 19).Freeze-drying has been successfully adapted to the preservation of bacteria and a great number of biological products.The literature is voluminous and for this reason the reader is referred to excellent reviews (6, 9, 10).Polge and eoworkers (16) were successful in freeze-drying fowl semen.Following immediate reconstitution, live ceils were observed in every field, but after two hours storage no live cells were observed.This suggests that drying was not complete.These workers implied that studies on spermatozoa of other species were to be undertaken, but no further reports have appeared in the literature.Sherman (17) attempted to freeze-dry human spermatozoa by employing techniques used in preparation of materials for cytological studies.He reported only negative results.In this study, attempts were made to freeze-dry bovine spermatozoa.EXPERI~IENT,~.