Scientists have worked out how to send viable mouse sperm on postcards

3 years ago 370

A elemental mode to transportation sperm successful the message could find an exertion successful technological studies and carnal husbandry.

Sperm is often transported nationally and internationally, but the solid vials typically utilized for transport are susceptible to breaking successful transit.

A squad led by Daiyu Ito astatine the University of Yamanashi successful Japan has present travel up with a mode to present sperm that removes the hazard of illustration loss. The method involves placing sperm connected a expanse of insubstantial and popping it successful the post.

“Until now, sending rodent sperm to different researchers has required a freezing situation specified arsenic liquid nitrogen oregon a freezer,” says Ito. “Not lone is the changeless proviso of liquid nitrogen and energy needed for proscription costly to maintain, but if determination is simply a roadworthy disruption oregon powerfulness outage owed to an earthquake, each the sperm volition melt and go unavailable.”

The researchers thought that an alternate mightiness beryllium to freeze-dry sperm onto a aboveground and nonstop it done the modular mail. After investigating respective materials, including filter insubstantial and vinyl sheets, the squad discovered that weighing insubstantial – a signifier of insubstantial utilized to clasp samples being weighed successful technological analyses – was the champion option. Mouse sperm could beryllium freeze-dried onto the insubstantial and inactive stay viable erstwhile it was retrieved later. Thousands of rodent sperm samples could beryllium stored this mode successful a azygous book, which the researchers person called a “sperm book”.

To enactment the method to the test, the researchers freeze-dried mouse sperm to a expanse of weighing paper, earlier sandwiching the insubstantial betwixt integrative sheets for easier handling and sending it done the Japanese postal service, either successful an envelope oregon attached to a postcard.

When the samples were retrieved aft travelling 200 kilometres – from the University of Tokyo to the University of Yamanashi – implicit the people of 2 days, the researchers could usage the sperm to nutrient steadfast mice.

The simplicity of this transportation method means that determination is imaginable for misuse, including the amerciable transport of familial material. This means caller regulations volition request to beryllium considered, says Ito – whose squad previously sent rodent sperm into space.

It is besides possibly improbable that the caller method volition beryllium utilized successful quality fertility treatments, says Ryosuke Kaneko astatine Osaka University successful Japan, who wasn’t progressive successful the analysis.

“Given the imaginable for quality assisted reproductive technologies to summation the hazard of immoderate diseases successful the aboriginal years of offspring, caution should beryllium exercised successful applying the contiguous results to the preservation of quality sperm,” says Kaneko. “However, this survey raises the intriguing thought that quality spermatozoa could beryllium preserved and transported by little cost, much secure, space-saving and elemental methods.”

Journal reference: iScience, DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102815