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Mammalian freeze-dried sperm can maintain their calcium oscillation-inducing ability when microinjected into mouse eggs.

Liu QC, Chen TE, Huang XY, Sun FZ

Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, People's Republic of China.

Mammalian freeze-dried sperm can maintain their genetic integrity and event support full development to term when microinjected into mature oocytes. However, it is unknown whether freeze-dried sperm can still maintain their calcium oscillation-inducing capability. Here, we microinjected mouse and bovine freeze-dried sperm into mouse MII oocytes and examined their calcium oscillation-inducing ability following intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Two pieces of information are revealed. First, nearly all oocytes injected with a freeze-dried mouse sperm head or a bovine sperm showed fertilization-like calcium oscillations, indicating that freeze-drying treatment does not affect the activity of the sperm factor responsible for calcium oscillations. Second, freeze-dried sperm exhibited high resistance to external temperature increase. This is shown by the finding that the freeze-dried sperm can maintain their calcium oscillation-inducing capacity even following exposure to 100 degrees C for 3 h. We therefore conclude that mammalian sperm can maintain their calcium oscillation-inducing capability following freeze-drying, rehydration, and ICSI treatments.

Published 14 February 2005 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 328(4): 824-30.
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