**Basic Cryobiology and Kinetic Vitrification**

**1** 

*USA* 

I.I. Katkov\*\* et al.\*

*San Diego, California,* 

**Kinetic Vitrification of Spermatozoa of** 

*CELLTRONIX and Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research,* 

*Dedicated to the memory of Father Basile J. Luyet (1897-1974)* 

**Vertebrates: What Can We Learn from Nature?** 

This as well as two other related Chapters, by Isachenko *et al.* and Moskovtsev *et al*., open this Book neither accidentally nor by the Editor's preferences to his friends and

Why *sperm?* Cryobiology had actually started from freezing sperm. We will skip all those very early anecdotes but should mention the Spallanzani attempt to freeze frog semen in the 18th century [Spallanzani, 1780]. Cryobiology as a science started with revolutionizing work of Father Luyet and other scientists of the late 1930's and 1940's, who we can collectively call *"the pioneers of the cryobiological frontiers"* (see the following sub-Chapter). There were several reasons why sperm was chosen, which included easiness in obtaining the samples, clear evidence of viability (moving – not moving, though later it was figured that everything was not so easy in this sophisticated living *"cruise missile"*), and importance for the farming industry with the emergence of systematic selective breeding (especially in cattle) with a powerful tool – artificial insemination (AI). AI started with the revolutionary work of W. Heape, I.I. Ivanov and other scientists at the dawn of the 20th century and was further developed by V.K. Milovanov in the 1930's as a viable breeding technology (see [Foote,

 V.F. Bolyukh2, O.A. Chernetsov3, P.I. Dudin4, A.Y. Grigoriev5, V. Isachenko6, E. Isachenko6, A.G.-M. Lulat7, S.I. Moskovtsev7,8, M.P. Petrushko9, V.I. Pinyaev9, K.M. Sokol10, Y.I. Sokol2,

*1 CELLTRONIX and Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research, San Diego, California, USA 2 Kharkov National Technical University "KhPI", Kharkov, Ukraine 3 Animal Reproduction Center, Kulinichi, Kharkov region, Ukraine* 

*4 Raptor Restoration and Reintroduction Program, National Reserve "Galichya Gora", Voronezh region, Russia 5 Kharkov Zoo, Kharkov, Ukraine* 

**1. Introduction** 

 \*

A.B. Sushko3 and I. Yakhnenko1

*\*\** Corresponding Author

collaborators; the reasons, in fact, lie quite deeper:

*6 Dept. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ulm University, Germany 7 CReATe Fertility Center, Toronto, Ontario, Canada* 

*10 Kharkov National Medical University, Kharkov, Ukraine* 

*8Dep. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Toronto University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 9 ART Clinic, Kharkov, Ukraine* 
