Offspring from inseminations with mammalian sperm stained with Hoechst 33342, either with or without flow cytometry

The technique of vital staining with a fluorochrome and subsequent flow cytometry has been employed to investigate the DNA content of living sperm. There have been several reports of chromosomal damage caused by staining cells with a bis-benzimidazole dye. Hoechst 33342, either with or without subsequent flow cytometry. Therefore the use of this technique might be expected to affect adversely the fertilising capacity of inseminated sperm, or to result in the production of congenital deformities in the young. Insemination experiments to date have resulted in the production of more than 400 offspring in four species, including 5 successive generations of rabbits, where stained or sorted sperm were used. All progeny were observed to be normal by anatomical criteria. There was no evidence to suggest that sperm treated in this manner were unable to fertilise oocytes in vivo or that embryonic development was affected.