A research group led by Professor Teruhiko Wakayama, a graduate student at the University of Yamanashi Graduate School, succeeded in storing freeze-dried mouse sperm in a thin plastic sheet for the first time in the world. One album can manage a huge number of mouse strains, can be stored at room temperature for a short period of time, and succeeded in producing mice from sperm mailed by postcard.

 Sperm preservation technology is required in a wide range of fields such as artificial insemination of excellent livestock, conservation of endangered species, and maintenance of a huge number of experimental mice.Normally, it is stored frozen in a liquid nitrogen tank or an ultra-low temperature freezer, but maintenance costs are high, and sperm melt when power is cut off.

 In recent years, the research group has been developing technology for freeze-drying mammalian sperm using mouse sperm, and for storing mouse sperm at room temperature (for more than a year by pulling out a desk) and for long-term storage at the International Space Station. success.However, it requires an ampoule bottle made of glass, and has drawbacks such as a risk of glass breakage and unsuitability for mass storage.

 Therefore, we have developed a technology to store freeze-dried sperm in a thin plastic sheet.This technology does not have to worry about damage and the manufacturing cost is low.At the moment, a freezer is required for long-term storage, but because it is so thin, hundreds of mouse sperms can be stored in one album-like booklet.In the experiment, many healthy offspring were obtained even after storage in the freezer (-1 ° C) for 30 months.It can be stored for about 3 days even at room temperature, and we actually succeeded in producing a mouse from sperm that was mailed domestically with a sheet attached to a postcard.

 In the future, if long-term storage at room temperature is realized, it will be possible to carry out international transportation and storage regardless of region by airmail.Although there are issues such as legislation and protection of intellectual property in the future, it is said that this technology will contribute to the promotion of joint research and the preservation of valuable genetic resources.

Paper information:[IScience] Mailing viable mouse freeze-dried spermatozoa on postcards

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