Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 43 (2003) 325-330
DOI: 10.1051/rnd:2003024

Cryopreservation of bovine oocytes: Current status and recent developments

Alban Massip

Université catholique de Louvain, Institut des Sciences de la Vie, Unité des Sciences vétérinaires, Place Croix du Sud 5 Bte 10, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
(Received 22 November 2002; accepted 17 June 2003)

Abstract
The cryopreservation of oocytes of most animal species remains a challenge due to their complex structure. Equilibrium freezing is not satisfactory because oocytes seem to be damaged by exposure for several minutes to temperatures near 0 °C. Therefore, cryopreservation of oocytes by vitrification - especially the use of very high cooling rates of oocytes suspended in extremely small volumes of various cryoprotective additive modifications - seems the most appropriate method.

Key words: oocyte / bovine / cryopreservation

Correspondence and reprints: Isabelle Donnay donnay@vete.ucl.ac.be

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2003