Freezing equine embryos

Reasons for freezing of equine embryos are:

• Preserving the genetics of a very valuable mare
• Worldwide import or export of embryos
• Storage of the embryos for transfer at a later time, embryo banking
• Much better planning of the optimal time for transplantation
• Possibility to use own mares as recipient mare

Depending on the size of the embryo we will use a different method for cryopreservation.

• Embryo < 300 microns: conventional method of slow freezing
• Embryo > 300 and < 600 microns: vitrification
• Embryo > 600 and < 1200 microns: collapsing and vitrification

For this purpose, the donor mare is preferably flushed on day 6/7 after ovulation instead of day 8.

However, pregnancy results after transplanting frozen embryos are lower than after transplantation of fresh embryos. A pregnancy rate of 60 to 70% can be expected after transplanting frozen embryos.

We obtain also the necessary knowledge for transplanting ICSI embryos, even if they are not produced by us. A pregnancy result of 60% on 14 days of pregnancy will be obtained with the transplantation of ICSI embryos