Feb. 27, 2013 — Oocytes of lions, tigers and
other cat species survive the preservation in liquid nitrogen. Scientists of
the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin
"We have successfully frozen and thawed
oocytes in the ovary cortex of different cat species at minus 196 degrees
Celsius. This freezing process and the storage of living cellular material in
liquid nitrogen is called cryopreservation," said Caterina Wiedemann,
doctoral candidate at the IZW.
The ovarian cortex is regarded as a reservoir of
reproductive cells. It contains thousands of immature oocytes. Successful
cryopreservation of ovarian tissue of wild cats is therefore a key element for
the establishment of genome resource banks, an important tool for the
preservation of genetic diversity. All felid species except for the domestic
cats are listed on the Red List for endangered species of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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