Gender preselection in cattle with intracytoplasmically injected, flow cytometrically sorted sperm heads.

We investigated the development to the blastocyst and subsequent live-offspring stages of in vitro-matured bovine oocytes intracytoplasmically injected with flow cytometrically sorted bull sperm heads. Bull sperm heads, prepared by ultrasound sonication, were distinguished and sorted on the basis of their relative DNA contents using a flow cytometer/cell sorter modified for sorting sperm. By fluorescence in situ hybridization, the proportion of sperm confirmed as having Y specific DNA in the fraction sorted for the Y sperm was 82%. Injection with single sorted sperm heads of in vitro-matured oocytes (cultured for 24 h) resulted in 46.6% cleavage and 6.9% blastocyst development rates. Embryo transfer of 48 blastocysts (Days 7-8) to recipients (one per recipient) resulted in 20.8% pregnancy and 20.8% normal live offspring production rates. The birth of 8 male and 2 female calves represents an 80% sex preselection accuracy rate.