• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.82-89
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• 1986

This experiment was carried out to determine the optimum freezing and thawing rates of the hamster embryos. The female hamsters were induced to superovulate by intraperitoneal injections of 30 i.u. PMSG and mated with males of the same strain of 4 days the PMSG injection. They were killed and embryos were flushed from the oviduct and uterine horn on 3 days after mating. Embryos were flushed with a modified Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline and equilibrated with 1.5 M-dimethylsulphoxide by a 3-step procedure. The freezing rates of the samples were $1^{\circ}C/min$ from room temperature to $-6^{\circ}C$ and the samples were seeded at $-6^{\circ}C$. After being held for 3 min at the seeding temperature, the rates were $0.3^{\circ}C/min$ from $-6^{\circ}C$ to $-35^{\circ}C$. From $-35^{\circ}C$ to $-70^{\circ}C$, the rates were divided into $0.1^{\circ}C/min$, $1^{\circ}C/min$ and $10^{\circ}C/min$, respectively. At $-70^{\circ}C$ the samples were plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. The samples were thawed at $4^{\circ}C/min$ and $12^{\circ}C/min$ from $-196^{\circ}C$ to $37^{\circ}C$, and for 2 min in $37^{\circ}C$ water bath, respectively. The average numbers of ovulation points and embryos recovered were 35.1 and 27.0 appearing 77.0% recovery rates. Eight cell embryos in the embryos recovered were 24.8. The survival rates of embryos according to the freezing rates were 55.5~67.7% at $0.1^{\circ}C/min$, 58.8~64.9% at $1^{\circ}C/min$ and 40.5~44.7% at $10^{\circ}C/min$, respectively. The survival rates at $10^{\circ}C/min$ were significantly low. The survival rates of embryos according to the thawing rates were 53.5% at $4^{\circ}C/min$, 53.7% at $12^{\circ}C/min$ and 59.1% in $37^{\circ}C$ water bath. The survival rates, in $37^{\circ}C$ water bath were slightly higher, but we did not find any differences among them. In conclusion, the best freezing rates of hamster embryos were $1^{\circ}C/min$ from the room temperature to $-6^{\circ}C/min$, $0.3^{\circ}C/min$ from $-6^{\circ}C/min$ to $-35^{\circ}C$ and $-0.1^{\circ}C/min$ or $1^{\circ}C/min$ from $-35^{\circ}C$ to $-70^{\circ}C$. The hamster embryos thawed for 2 min in $37^{\circ}C$ water bath showed the best survival rates.