Page 168 - January 2018

ICSI – AdvAnCIng EquInE REpRoduCTIon
“ICSI requires a lot of quality control and constant supervision to grow the embryos in the incubator.”
Part One – How Does it Work?
by Heather Smith Thomas
pregnancy rates with artificial insemination, embryo transfer, frozen semen, frozen embryos, sperm injection and other assisted reproduction
techniques have improved greatly in the past decade. There are several facilities around the country (at universities, and private practices) that specialize in equine reproduction and research, but only a hand- ful that do intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, pronounced ik-see) to create embryos from mares and stallions that can’t reproduce in any other way. The only ones doing this are the reproductive labs at Texas A&M and Colorado State University and two private veterinarians, Dr. Rick Beck in California (In-Foal, Inc.) and Dr. Rob Foss in Missouri (Equine Medical Services).
Katrin Hinrichs DVM, PhD (Regents Professor, and Patsy Link Chair in Mare Reproductive Studies, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences) says one of the main advances at Texas A&M is doing ICSI. “This has become a very impor- tant clinical technique in breeding horses in the last 5 years. We started doing ICSI clinically in 2009 and by 2013, we were doing more than 100 cases per year, which soon became 400 cases per year,” she says.
“Oocytes (unfertilized eggs) can be obtained from mares at the mare’s location, then shipped overnight to our ICSI laboratory. So, this procedure is available to mare owners throughout the U.S,” says Hinrichs.
This technique has caught on with many breeders and seems to be driven mostly by stallion owners in the U.S. “There are some very popular stallions that are too old now and can’t breed anymore and have
a limited amount of frozen semen. Even if you have lots of straws of frozen semen, if you are using it for regular insemination it takes many straws just for one mare to conceive. So ICSI is a way to prolong that stallion’s breeding life,” she explains.
ICSI is also used for mares that have problems conceiving or carrying an embryo long enough for embryo transfer. “Using ICSI we can get foals from these mares using their eggs (oocytes). However, most of the work we do here is to enhance stallion sperm availability,” says Hinrichs.
Dr. Rick Beck of In-Foal Inc. is one of very few specialists who do the ICSI procedure to create embryos for transfer into recipient mares. Upon graduation, Dr. Beck moved to California where the climate was more conducive to year-round equine reproduction. In 1987, he moved to Hemet, California, and in 1990 purchased 10 acres in
ICSI is a technique in which a single sperm is injected into an oocyte (egg) from a mare.
Diamond Valley to begin building his Winners Circle Equine Clinic, which later became In-Foal Inc.
His specialty is ICSI. This is a technique in which a single sperm is injected into an oocyte (egg) from the mare. “There are an increasing number of stal- lions that can only be bred via this ICSI procedure, so more people are learning about this. We have a website (www.infoal-inc.com) and our objective is to educate people about ICSI,” he says.
Dr. Rick Beck of
In-Foal Inc. of Hemet, California, is one of very few specialists who do intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to create embryos for transfer into recipient mares.
“There are two main reasons that someone would use this procedure. One is if your mare has a bad uterus and you can- not get embryos from her anymore or cannot breed her to carry a foal. In earlier years, when a mare could not get pregnant and carry her own foal, she was barren and her career as a broodmare was over.”
Then embryo transfer became possible, starting in the 1970’s. With this pro- cedure you could breed the mare, collect the embryo
Heather Smith Thomas
and put it in a surrogate mare and still have a foal. The donor mare could continue to reproduce. Embryo transfer was one of the first major
advances after artificial insemination (AI). Embryo transfer became very popular and for many years, breeders were able to salvage mares that would other- wise not have a future as a broodmare. With embryo transfer they could still produce foals and continue their contribution to the horse industry with their good genetics.
166 SPEEDHORSE, January 2018
equine health