Effect of washing on motility and acrosome morphology of frozen-thawed goat spermatozoa.
Semen from 4 bucks was collected using an artificial vagina and was pooled and divided into 6 aliquots. Three aliquots were washed twice, 15 minutes each time, with Ringer's solution, and the fluid was removed by centrifugation at 950 X g between washes. All 6 aliquots (3 washed and 3 unwashed) were extended with skim milk-glycerol, lactose-egg yolk-glycerol, or tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane-citric acid-egg yolk-glycerol and were frozen in straws to -196 C. The semen was then thawed and kept at 37 C for 8 hours. Percentage of sperm motility was estimated, and the percentage of normal acrosomes (NA) was determined at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours after thawing. The experiment was repeated 7 times. The data indicated a significant positive effect (P = 0.0009) of washing on motility, but no effect (P = 0.5347) of extender. There was also a significantly higher percentage of NA in washed semen (P less than 0.0001). Sperm extended in tris aminomethane-citric acid-egg yolk-glycerol had more NA than those extended in lactose-egg yolk-glycerol. Sperm motility and acrosome morphology were depressed also in the presence of seminal plasma for the milk extender, which did not contain egg yolk. Removal of seminal plasma from goat semen was beneficial in preserving the integrity of the spermatozoa after freezing, regardless of the extender used.
D000177:Acrosome / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000818:Animals; D005615:Freezing; D006041:Goats; D008297:Male; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000648:ultrastructure*