EVALUATION OF THE MODIFIED SLOW FREEZING CRYOPRESERVATION PROTOCOL FOR THE BLOOD PRIMORDIAL GERM CELLS (bPGCs) FROM Gallus gallus domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

Indiscriminate crossbreeding of the Philippine native chicken may pose a biodiversity loss in the future. As such, cryopreservation of blood primordial germ cells (bPGCs) from native chick embryos was targeted as a preventive measure. From 112 eggs, bPGCs were collected and cryopreserved (1 d, 2 d, 7 d, and 14 d) through a modified slow freezing protocol. Afterwards, thawed bPGCs were cultured for a day. Results showed post-thawed bPGCs had a declining viability rate as the period of cryopreservation lengthened (p < 0.05). Short-term cell culture of freshly collected and thawed bPGCs showed no significant difference in cell density after 24 h (p > 0.05). However, the similar cell densities with their pre-culture values suggest that a long-term cell culture is needed to better support the bPGC recovery and propagation. With this, the modified cryopreservation protocol supplemented with long-term cell culture is recommended to be examined further before it can be used in chicken PGC-based gene banking.